Carol Guzy’s ‘Separated by ICE’ Wins World Press Photo of the Year

Overview

• World Press Photo named the image Photo of the Year on Thursday, saying it powerfully conveys the cost of family separation by U.S. immigration agents.
• The August 26, 2025 photograph shows Luis, an Ecuadorian father from the Bronx, detained by ICE after a routine immigration hearing in a New York federal courthouse as his daughters cling to him.
• The family said he had no criminal record and reported immediate emotional and financial harm after his detention, with their situation after the arrest still unknown.
• The picture is part of a Miami Herald project that documented arrests in the Jacob K. Javits federal building, where photographers were granted rare access to corridors outside immigration courtrooms.
• Reporting links the scene to a January 2025 policy reversal and a reported $75 billion funding boost that allowed ICE to arrest people in once protected sites like courts, driving more detentions of people without criminal records.