NEW YORK CITY — World Press Photo named "Separated by ICE" by Carol Guzy as its 2026 Photo of the Year, the organization announced in April 2026. The photograph, taken for the Miami Herald, was made in a hallway inside the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building in New York City, where photographers were granted access to document detainments.

The image depicts the aftermath of the detention of a man identified as Luis, who was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents following an immigration court hearing at the building on August 26, 2025. Luis, who is from Ecuador, was the sole breadwinner for his family, which includes his wife, Cocha, a seven-year-old boy, and two girls aged 13 and 15. Following the detention, the family did not appear at a church that assists detainee families and did not respond to messages.

"This image shows the inconsolable grief of children losing their father in a place built for justice. It is a stark and necessary record of family separation following the U.S. reform policies. In a democracy, the camera's presence in that hallway serves as a witness to a policy that has turned courthouses into sites of shattered lives — it is a powerful example of why independent photojournalism matters," said Joumana El Zein Khoury, executive director of World Press Photo.

Guzy, who is affiliated with ZUMA Press and iWitness and has won the Pulitzer Prize four times, documented detainments at the courthouse daily for six months. The winning photograph was part of a larger body of work titled Ice Arrests at New York Court.

"Asylum seekers attend their immigration court hearings, at 26 Federal Plaza in New York," Guzy said. She described the effect on relatives of those detained. "Kids and spouses are traumatized. They're caught in the crossfire of President Trump's mass deportation effort, which has been very controversial," she said.

On July 8, 2025, masked federal officers waited outside courtrooms in New York City holding target photographs. On August 20, 2025, security personnel were caught between federal agents, desperate families, and protesters in a courthouse in the city.