Associated Press images of migrants’ struggle are recognized with a Pulitzer Prize

NEW YORK — The images, captured by Associated Press photographers in 2023 and awarded a Pulitzer Prize on Monday, illuminate the humanity of an unprecedented global migration story that is often overlooked in a storm of statistics and political rhetoric.

In the middle of the Central American jungle, a woman fleeing unrest in her native Haiti struggles to cross a river while holding a girl on her shoulders. After weeks of desperation, migrants pass a toddler beneath a tangle of concertina wire stretched over the edge of American soil.

Well before the year started, AP journalists knew that rising migration across America was a big story. But to tell the full story, they focused on showing that “migration is more than numbers. It has to do with people, with the stories behind the reasons they left their countries,” said Eduardo Castillo, AP’s news director for Latin America and the Caribbean.

On Monday, eight AP staffers and freelance photographers — six from Latin America and two from the U.S. — received this year’s Pulitzer for feature photography for images documenting the fear, heartbreak and even the brief moments of joy that mark the migrants’ journey .

“Simply put, this was AP at its best — using our global footprint and deep expertise to cover a fast-moving, high-impact story,” Editor-in-Chief Julie Pace said in a note sent to news staff Monday. “It is also particularly encouraging that the Pulitzers recognized AP’s work in international migration, as this has been a priority for us in recent years for global coverage.”

The AP was also a Pulitzer finalist in 2019 for its coverage of family separations during the Trump administration.

Although the award was in the feature film category, the work was all part of the daily reporting, Castillo said. The images, he said, are a testament to the efforts of journalists — staff photographers Greg Bull, Eric Gay, Fernando Llano, Marco Ugarte and Eduardo Verdugo, and regular AP freelance photographers Christian Chavez, Felix Marquez and Ivan Valencia — to reach out with migrants. .

“I would like to thank the people along the way, the migrants themselves… the people who allowed us to be with them at this exciting time in their lives and allowed us, trusted us to tell their stories,” Bull said. comments to other AP staffers shortly after the award was announced.

The photos reflect the AP’s recognition that rising migration was attracting increasing attention from the public and policymakers and warranted greater coverage. Leveraging staffing levels across Latin America and along the U.S.-Mexico border, the news agency has assigned journalists to document the poverty, violence, persecution and natural disasters driving the wave of departures and paving the way of migrants.

The result was a series of “poignant photographs that capture unprecedented masses of migrants on their arduous journey north,” Pulitzer administrator Marjorie Miller said in announcing the award.

The photos were taken at several pivotal moments, including the end of pandemic-era restrictions last May, which allowed the US to quickly turn away migrants, and a large increase in arrivals at the border last September, which overwhelmed immigration authorities and communities became.

In the US alone, more than ten million migrants have arrived at the border in the past five years. Many come from countries such as Venezuela and Ecuador, which were not major drivers of immigration in previous years.

The photographers tried to show how many of these migrants begin their journey through the Darien Gap, the dense and roadless jungle that lies between South and Central America.

Other images show migrants on a northbound freight train in the middle of a Mexican night as it winds toward the U.S. border, and others in a makeshift camp of brush and branches near the U.S. border.

In total, they showcase one of the greatest stories of our time, requiring AP photographers spread across multiple countries to work with both great dedication and empathy, said Ricardo Mazalán, deputy director of stories and photos in Latin America.

“It was their ability to emotionally understand the experiences of others and connect with the migrants,” said Mazalán, “that allowed them to convey the deeply intimate moments they captured.”