--- title: John Moore on Photographing Asylum-Seekers at the U.S. Border | TIME description: Photojournalist John Moore recently took a viral photo of a girl crying as her mother is searched at the border. He explains the circumstances around the newsworthy photo. canonical: https://time.com/video/HCdlKNqR/ og:title: John Moore on Photographing Asylum-Seekers at the U.S. Border og:description: Photojournalist John Moore recently took a viral photo of a girl crying as her mother is searched at the border. He explains the circumstances around the newsworthy photo. og:url: https://time.com/video/HCdlKNqR/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/HCdlKNqR/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: John Moore on Photographing Asylum-Seekers at the U.S. Border twitter:description: Photojournalist John Moore recently took a viral photo of a girl crying as her mother is searched at the border. He explains the circumstances around the newsworthy photo. twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/HCdlKNqR/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # John Moore on Photographing Asylum-Seekers at the U.S. Border > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Subscription: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME is a general-interest news organization founded in 1923, reporting on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world. A TIME subscription provides full access to that journalism in print and digital, from $20 a year, and can be cancelled at any time. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: John Moore on Photographing Asylum-Seekers at the U.S. Border [Watch (HLS stream): John Moore on Photographing Asylum-Seekers at the U.S. Border](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/HCdlKNqR.m3u8) (2:39)  _Published 2018-06-20. Photojournalist John Moore recently took a viral photo of a girl crying as her mother is searched at the border. He explains the circumstances around the newsworthy photo._ --- Jul 28, 2023 12:08 AM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Central American Migrants Who Reached the Border by Caravan Have Started Seeking U.S. Asylum](/video/nbI6wpf1/) ### Central American Migrants Who Reached the Border by Caravan Have Started Seeking U.S. Asylum [Behind the Scenes with Photographer Andrew Moore on America](/video/yxa7kqyu/) ### Behind the Scenes with Photographer Andrew Moore on America [Photographing Ebola: John Moore in Liberia](/video/7vV9HzPX/) ### Photographing Ebola: John Moore in Liberia --- ## Transcript I was with the border patrol agent and we were on the US side of the Rio Grande and I was watching as rafts of asylum seekers came across and so after some time, the agent and I went back to his vehicle. And began to drive out. And that's where we came across a group of maybe two dozen women and children walking alongside the road. And the border patrol agent, he shined his spotlight on them. You could see the fear frankly in their eyes. And I noticed in the crowd of people A mother holding a young girls and the mother would not set her down, and the girl wanted to be held the whole time. I spoke briefly with the mother, and she said that they'd come from Honduras, and they; d been travelling for a month. When it came to her turn to be searched, the agents, they asked her to set down her child And in that moment as soon as the little girl's feet touched the ground, she started screaming. She was crying and it was a very acute case of separation anxiety happening in front of me. And as she looked up at her mother being searched I photographed her just for a few seconds. There were just very few pictures before it was all over and they were packed away into the van and driven off. [ MUSIC ] The border patrol hands them off to a private contractor, which is called the GEO group. The GEO group runs a network of private prisons In the US and GEO transports them to the processing center where we know that many children are separated from their parents. In the case of this girl and her mother, I did not know what would happen to them. I photographed many times Families seeking political asylum. Photographing this for me was very different this time, because although the families didn't know what was coming next, I did. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] I've had the opportunity to witness a lot of history. And we hope that we can make people feel with all of our pictures, but some of them are more effective than others. [ MUSIC ] ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"John Moore on Photographing Asylum-Seekers at the U.S. Border","description":"Photojournalist John Moore recently took a viral photo of a girl crying as her mother is searched at the border. 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