Over the past several months, journalists have rushed to cover a dramatic increase in immigration enforcement across the state. As they do, they confront the opacity of our nation’s immigration system, including court records that are exceedingly difficult to access, private detention centers that are often shrouded from public scrutiny, and massive backlogs in response times to federal Freedom of Information Act requests.
That’s why today, as we launch the first in what will be a series of Reporter’s Field Guides on a variety of topics, we’re starting with an immigration enforcement guide, available in English and Spanish.
While immigration is largely a federal matter, our guide explains how reporters in California can use state and local records available under the California Public Records Act to report on immigration enforcement and offers tips on navigating courts and detention centers.
During my 17 years as a reporter with the Los Angeles Times, I covered immigration-related issues many times. I deeply know the frustration that comes with trying to shine a light on systems that can feel like black holes. A few years ago, after a colleague and I struggled to get information from the federal government about conditions in California’s immigration detention centers, we painstakingly examined hundreds of calls to local police and other records from the detention centers to shed some light on what was happening inside.
We at FAC hope this guide will be a reference tool for reporters both new and seasoned on the immigration beat. As part of our launch, we’re inviting California journalists to request trainings, share feedback on additional resources you would value and sign up to receive invitations and announcements from our team. Fill out this interest form.
Soon, we’ll be publishing even more guides, including one on covering police shootings. It’s all part of an expansion of FAC’s educational offerings for journalists that my colleague Thadeus Greenson and I are working on. We’re looking forward to sharing more with you soon.