I reported on a Muslim registry in the US almost 15 years ago, after 9/11. It never occurred to me, once the Bush administration quietly stopped pursuing the program, that I would have an occasion to report on it again. But here we are. Since this story ran, the Obama administration has taken the National Security […]
Posts with the pri tag
I moved to Minneapolis for Prince
On the day of Prince’s death, I wrote a remembrance. I don’t remember not listening to Prince. After college, I got my first job in Los Angeles and moved into a motel-turned-apartment on La Cienega Boulevard. The street was busy and, like most of my neighbors had experienced at one time or another, my old […]
‘Detained because my name was Gonzalez’
… Gonzalez and the two other protesters were in the booking area together, where they were processed, fingerprinted and patted down. That’s when, she says, two agents called her by name to come up to the counter. Gonzalez says she was the only one in the booking area who was called up. They began asking questions including, […]
Supreme Court hears immigration case — and starts with tough questions for lawyers
The Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Legal Permanent Residents program, commonly known as DAPA, was scheduled to start in May 2015 and would have granted certain undocumented parents, like Bilbao, temporary relief from deportation and employment authorization. But the program was put on hold by a federal court. The case was argued April […]
At The Bunker, deported veterans recover from war — and look for a way back home
Not far from the southern limits of the US, and the very busy San Ysidro border crossing into Mexico, a small group of men, ages 30 to 70, have made a home. They have family in the US. They fought in the US military. Some were injured in battle. Some have PTSD. They have all […]
What it’s like to register to vote in Oregon and Texas
Rekha Koirala is a first-time voter. She was born in Bhutan and grew up in a refugee camp in Nepal. She came the the US in 2008 and became a citizen as soon as she was eligible in 2013. “I grew up not belonging to anywhere,” she says on the phone from Portland. “I was […]
Hollywood is a white boy’s club, says one report. Here’s an antidote.
Meena Ramamurthy is a filmmaker and storyteller. A colleague, another writer of color, once told her: “Don’t write a pilot with two people of color.” “It doesn’t come from a bad place,” Ramamurthy says. “It just comes from experience.” If you’ve watched “Master of None” (the “Indians on Television” episode), this probably sounds familiar. Studios, […]
Detained after being released by a judge
Here’s my latest, about the powers of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and local law enforcement. … Gonzalez and the two other protesters were in the booking area together, where they were processed, fingerprinted and patted down. That’s when, she says, two agents called her by name to come up to the counter. Gonzalez says she […]
Trump v. The Pope
It’s an unlikely pair to be having a war of words, but GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump and Roman Catholic Pope Francis traded sharp statements about immigration and the Mexican border. After hosting a mass in Ciudad Juárez, on the US-Mexico border, the pope responded to a question about Trump’s position on immigration: “A person who […]
Scalia: His legacy on immigration not all what you might think
The Supreme Court this term will hear cases on unions, abortion and legislative districts. And they’ll also hear a challenge to Obama’s executive action on immigration, which would affect some 5 million people. How the Supreme Court will decide those cases may have shifted dramatically with the death over the weekend of Supreme Court Justice Antonin […]