MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, U.S. â" JANUARY 12: U.S. Border Patrol agents question a person who appears to be a minor before arresting him during immigration enforcement operations in Minnesota, U.S., January 12, 2026. (Photo by Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu via Getty Images)
photos of people getting arrested and harassed, possibly the worst moments of their life sold for profit
I was in full agreement with your entire comment until I read this.
Tell us - how is the photographer supposed to support himself in this work if not via his images? Do you suppose this person is making vast wealth from this? You yourself acknowledge the danger of documenting what is going on in Minneapolis. Shouldn’t we be encouraging people in this - or at the least, not work to discourage it? By this logic, filmmakers who make documentaries about the victims of war shouldn’t be able to make a wage from their work, either. How about whistleblowers who expose abuse from within, are they allowed to make money from writing books about their experience? If you can provide me with evidence that this kind of photojournalism is leading to vast and exploitative profit-making schemes, I’ll reconsider your argument, but short of that…
If you want to talk about the worst moments of a subject’s life, consider Phan Thi Kim Phúc. At the age of 9, her village was hit by freaking napalm, and she was severely burned - her clothes literally burned away, and she was photographed running naked from the smoking ruins of her village. This image won the Pulitzer Prize, which undoubtedly aided the photographer in his career… and the victim herself hated the photo at first. I strongly urge you to read the article, however, because it shows how her thinking on this subject evolved.
The important thing is that these images are being broadly disseminated. And you don’t even have to pay to see them, or form your own opinion on them. What more can we ask for?
I watched this live: https://www.youtube.com/live/sjmfom1M7cc?t=5100 Border patrol turns onto that street at 1:23:44, stops around 1:24:30, are seen talking to him at 1:25:00, and have him in the SUV by 1:25:35.
The SUV he’s put into was being followed for over an hour beforehand (same heart bumper sticker and plate # that are visible at 1:25:08 and 1:25:00 are visible at 8:19 and 8:31, when CBP is seen prowling around a Home Depot parking lot).
Border patrol seemingly just sees a kid walking down the street alone and whisks him away in about a minute. Can’t really hear what is said in this video, but it does show that border patrol did actually take him, and this isn’t just a picture of them talking to him before releasing him.
Please can people provide reputable sources for random images like this? At this point, to me, it’s just ragebait.
Seems the photographer Mostafa Bassim sells his photos on gettyimages:
https://www.gettyimages.com/search/2/image?artistexact=anadolu&phrase=mostafa+bassim&sort=newest&license=rf%2Crm
https://www.mostafabassim.net/biography
The text from the photographer on gettyimages:
Here’s another bunch of photos of the same boy (found on page three from the first gettyimages link):
Great work my guy
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/01/ice-descends-on-minneapolis/
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/01/ice-descends-on-minneapolis/
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Would you like another link to the same thing?
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I was in full agreement with your entire comment until I read this.
Tell us - how is the photographer supposed to support himself in this work if not via his images? Do you suppose this person is making vast wealth from this? You yourself acknowledge the danger of documenting what is going on in Minneapolis. Shouldn’t we be encouraging people in this - or at the least, not work to discourage it? By this logic, filmmakers who make documentaries about the victims of war shouldn’t be able to make a wage from their work, either. How about whistleblowers who expose abuse from within, are they allowed to make money from writing books about their experience? If you can provide me with evidence that this kind of photojournalism is leading to vast and exploitative profit-making schemes, I’ll reconsider your argument, but short of that…
If you want to talk about the worst moments of a subject’s life, consider Phan Thi Kim Phúc. At the age of 9, her village was hit by freaking napalm, and she was severely burned - her clothes literally burned away, and she was photographed running naked from the smoking ruins of her village. This image won the Pulitzer Prize, which undoubtedly aided the photographer in his career… and the victim herself hated the photo at first. I strongly urge you to read the article, however, because it shows how her thinking on this subject evolved.
The important thing is that these images are being broadly disseminated. And you don’t even have to pay to see them, or form your own opinion on them. What more can we ask for?
I watched this live: https://www.youtube.com/live/sjmfom1M7cc?t=5100 Border patrol turns onto that street at 1:23:44, stops around 1:24:30, are seen talking to him at 1:25:00, and have him in the SUV by 1:25:35.
The SUV he’s put into was being followed for over an hour beforehand (same heart bumper sticker and plate # that are visible at 1:25:08 and 1:25:00 are visible at 8:19 and 8:31, when CBP is seen prowling around a Home Depot parking lot).
Border patrol seemingly just sees a kid walking down the street alone and whisks him away in about a minute. Can’t really hear what is said in this video, but it does show that border patrol did actually take him, and this isn’t just a picture of them talking to him before releasing him.