Nancy Pelosi took an emotional pause before discussing the photo of drowned migrants
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has one priority right now: migrant children.
In a Thursday press conference, Pelosi addressed that day's Supreme Court ruling regarding gerrymandering and E. Jean Carroll's allegation of sexual assault against President Trump. But her most noteworthy answers came as she discussed recent heartbreaking stories surrounding migrants at the border, namely a stunning viral photo of a migrant father and daughter who died trying to cross the Rio Grande into the U.S.
When a reporter asked about the photo, Pelosi took a long pause, and, as The Wall Street Journal's Natalie Andrews tweeted, got "tears in her eyes." She stumbled through an explanation of how the father "couldn't save [his daughter] and he couldn't save himself," discussed how "the Rio Grande has a personality," and said that this should help politicians "understand the consequences of policy."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Pelosi continued to bring up "the children, the children, the children" throughout the conference, particularly when discussing how the Senate passed a border spending bill that didn't mandate the same standards for housing detained migrant children as the House's version. Watch Pelosi explain why she becomes a "lioness" when "you get near those cubs" below. Kathryn Krawczyk
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.
-
Who is fuelling the flames of antisemitism in Australia?Today’s Big Question Deadly Bondi Beach attack the result of ‘permissive environment’ where warning signs were ‘too often left unchecked’
-
Bulgaria is the latest government to fall amid mass protestsThe Explainer The country’s prime minister resigned as part of the fallout
-
Codeword: December 15, 2025The daily codeword puzzle from The Week
-
Senate votes down ACA subsidies, GOP alternativeSpeed Read The Senate rejected the extension of Affordable Care Act tax credits, guaranteeing a steep rise in health care costs for millions of Americans
-
Abrego García freed from jail on judge’s orderSpeed Read The wrongfully deported man has been released from an ICE detention center
-
Indiana Senate rejects Trump’s gerrymander pushSpeed Read The proposed gerrymander would have likely flipped the state’s two Democratic-held US House seats
-
Democrat files to impeach RFK Jr.Speed Read Rep. Haley Stevens filed articles of impeachment against Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
-
$1M ‘Trump Gold Card’ goes live amid travel rule furorSpeed Read The new gold card visa offers an expedited path to citizenship in exchange for $1 million
-
US seizes oil tanker off VenezuelaSpeed Read The seizure was a significant escalation in the pressure campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro
-
Judge orders release of Ghislaine Maxwell recordsSpeed Read The grand jury records from the 2019 prosecution of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein will be made public
-
Miami elects first Democratic mayor in 28 yearsSpeed Read Eileen Higgins, Miami’s first woman mayor, focused on affordability and Trump’s immigration crackdown in her campaign
