The Picture Show : NPR
Distraught girls cling to their father, Luis, as ICE arrests him following an immigration hearing in New York on August 26, 2025. Luis was the sole breadwinner of his family.
Carol Guzy/ZUMA Press, iWitness for Miami Herald
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Carol Guzy/ZUMA Press, iWitness for Miami Herald
The photo of the year is Separated by ICE by Carol Guzy, ZUMA Press, iWitness, for Miami Herald.
This photograph was taken inside one of the few U.S. federal buildings where photographers had access: a single hallway where photographer Carol Guzy and others showed up day after day to document what was happening. It captures a heartbreaking moment: a family separated by the state. Luis was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents following an immigration court hearing at the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building in New York on August 26, 2025.
Joumana El Zein Khoury, executive director of World Press Photo, said: “This image shows the inconsolable grief of children who lose their fathers in a place built for justice.
Guzy, a four-time Pulitzer Prize winner, spoke to Morning Edition about photography and the critical importance of history in the world. This was part of a larger body of work called Ice arrests in New York court.
Interview Highlights
Who are the people she photographed:
Asylum seekers attend their hearings in immigration court at 26 Federal Plaza in New York. And ICE has been there since last May, I think, carrying out detentions and this particular family. The father’s name was Luis, originally from Ecuador, and his wife’s name is Cocha. I don’t have the names of his children. He had two daughters and a seven-year-old son. And the young women were 13 and 15 years old. And the family was inconsolable with despair when they arrested their father. And I don’t know what happened to the family now. They didn’t show up at a church that helps these families. So they kind of fell off the map as far as being able to update.
Can you tell us a little more about how you captured this moment?
Yeah. Children and spouses are traumatized. They are caught in the crossfire of President Trump’s mass deportation efforts, which have been highly controversial. As I said, I’ve been covering detentions for many, many months and ICE agents wait outside the courtrooms and they have what they call targets and they detain them outside their hearings repeatedly, causing family separations. This was one of many I’ve photographed since I’ve been there. And it’s always a very chaotic scene, especially when there are families involved and, you know, there are kids screaming and there are a lot of people with a lot of ICE agents. There are so many photojournalists, court observers and lawyers. It’s a pretty chaotic scene when this happens.
Masked federal agents wait outside New York City courtrooms on July 8, 2025, holding photographs of their targets.
Carol Guzy/ZUMA Press, iWitness for Miami Herald
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Carol Guzy/ZUMA Press, iWitness for Miami Herald
What made you start documenting this?
I had covered the Republican National Convention the year before. And there was a moment when the crowd took out signs announcing mass deportation now. And there was such fervor in the crowd about it. And I realized that Trump’s campaign promise about mass deportations was probably going to come true.
And I wanted to do something on immigration this year. And I noticed that there was access to this courthouse. And in fact, it’s unprecedented because it’s the only courthouse where they allowed photojournalists to document. So I spent a day here, and I actually came to New York to cover the Mermaid Parade at Coney Island, because that was on my bucket list. I had never been to Coney Island, but while I was here, I went to the courthouse for a day, and then six months later I went there daily, you know, for that whole time, because I think it’s extremely important that the cameras are there and that we have an eye on what’s going on in this courthouse.
You’ve covered disasters around the world, how does covering the immigration crisis compare?
It’s kind of a war in the streets of America right now, when it comes to, you know, political division and how many people are affected by these new policies. And I think that, you know, it’s imperative that the media right now show who’s being affected, who’s being detained and the aftershocks that families are facing. It’s not for us to judge as a press, but I think all of these photographs certainly raise awareness and hold the agencies and individuals accountable in this courthouse and perhaps sometimes become a voice or an amplified voice of justice.
A security guard breaks down while attending a family separation. Security personnel often find themselves trapped between federal agents, desperate families and protesters in the increasingly volatile environment of the New York courthouse on August 20, 2025.
Carol Guzy/ZUMA Press, iWitness for Miami Herald
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Carol Guzy/ZUMA Press, iWitness for Miami Herald
Are you in contact with any of the families you documented at this time?
We are currently in contact with Luis’ family. They were supposed to come to this church, which is a sort of epicenter of help for the families of detainees, but they never showed up and did not respond to his messages. So we lost track of them. But there are other families that I have been caring for for several months now. There are three families in particular and a few others that I’ve tried to follow in their struggles with the loss of their breadwinner, which causes not only emotional trauma but, you know, financial problems for all the families and the children have needed therapy. They have nightmares. They are quite traumatized by what they witnessed at the courthouse.
You’ve obviously received so many awards for your work, what does it mean to have this award?
Well, I think this recognition is so important because the story is so important. And choosing this particular image is symbolic of this evolving story in America at this pivotal time. And I think it’s a very powerful statement that they chose an image from the history of what’s happening in America right now.
A woman is taken, chained, to the 10th floor of the Jacob Javits building in New York.
Carol Guzy/ZUMA Press, iWitness for Miami Herald
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Carol Guzy/ZUMA Press, iWitness for Miami Herald
What was your reaction when you found out you had won?
I was very surprised. And of course, I was extremely happy to hear the news. I don’t think this price is for me. This is for the people in the photos and everyone involved in this issue right now.
