Father and daughter drown in Rio Grande while trying to cross into US

El Salvador’s government has warned people against risking their lives to reach the US after a man and his baby daughter drowned in the Rio Grande.

Photos of their bodies, found face down in shallow water with the 23-month-old girl’s arm around her father’s neck, have sparked condemnation.

It comes as the US and Mexico implement tougher policies to stem the flow of undocumented migrants, mostly from Central America, travelling north.

At least six have died in recent days.

Many of the migrants say they are fleeing violence and poverty in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, and plan to seek asylum in the US.

Critics of President Donald Trump’s tougher stance on immigration say his approach is driving migrants to take more dangerous routes.

At least 283 migrants died on the US-Mexico border in 2018, according to US Border Patrol, but human rights activists say the number is likely to be higher.

Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez, 25, and his daughter Valeria drowned on Sunday while trying to cross from Matamoros, in the northern Mexican state of Tamaulipas, into Texas.

The image, which surfaced on Monday, was captured by journalist Julia Le Duc and published by Mexican newspaper La Jornada.