Harrowing image of children clinging to detained father named World Press Photo of the Year

The World Press Photo Foundation has announced its 2025 Photo of the Year, awarding the top prize to a powerful and deeply distressing image that captures the human impact of U.S. immigration enforcement.

Titled Separated by ICE, the photograph was taken by independent photojournalist Carol Guzy inside New York’s Jacob K. Javits Federal Building. It captures the moment two young girls cling desperately to their father, Luis, an Ecuadorian migrant, as he is detained by immigration authorities.

According to his family, Luis has no criminal record and was the sole provider for the household. His wife, Cocha, and their three children - aged seven, 13 and 15 - were "left inconsolable, facing immediate financial hardship and profound emotional trauma."

Shot for the Miami Herald in August 2025, it was selected from 57,376 entries submitted by more than 3,000 photographers worldwide. Judges praised the winning photo's raw emotional intensity and said it "serves as a witness to a policy that has turned courthouses into sites of shattered lives."

Global jury chair Kira Pollack described the image as a stark record of reality: "The Photo of the Year is evidence. It's proof, and it's a record of ground zero where a family is being separated and a father is being detained and taken away. And it's the moments before the unknown. This is a record of, quite literally, a disappearance."

She added: "This picture is chaotic. It's terrifying. It captures a very genuine expression of fear, terror, uncertainty and powerlessness. And what brings me into the picture, of course, are the daughters’ faces, trying to keep their father from being torn away. It allows us to look in. We cannot unsee it."

Guzy, who has spent years documenting the effects of immigration policy on families, said in a statement: "This photo should be painful to view, and I hope it stirs people out of any sense of complacency. This award highlights the critical importance of this story worldwide."

She added: "We bear witness to the suffering of countless families, but also to their grace, and resilience that transcends adversity and it's been quite humbling. Their courage to open up their lives to our cameras has allowed us to tell their stories. And certainly this award belongs to them, not me."