About Me

I am a Pulitzer Prize-winning freelance journalist based in Mexico City. My work has explored the impact of Washington’s immigration policies in Latin America, exposed the consequences of the region’s brutal drug war and chronicled political upheaval and changes. From 2020 to 2023, I was a correspondent at VICE News working across print, audio and video. In 2021, I won an Emmy for my coverage of children trained to fight drug cartels. I’ve also freelanced for a number of publications, including NPR, The World and the Los Angeles Times. I honed my reporting skills covering local politics for The San Francisco Chronicle and analyzing legal affairs for The Daily Journal. From 2007-2008, I investigated human rights abuses in the Philippines as a Fulbright fellow.

Featured Work

Print & Digital Selects

VICE News, April 2023 | Mexican Cartels Are Turning Once-Peaceful Ecuador Into a Narco War Zone | The Sinaloa Cartel and Jalisco New Generation Cartel are battling for dominance over the transport of cocaine.

VICE News, February 2023 | An Elite Afghan Soldier Braved the World’s Deadliest Jungle Trying to Reach the U.S. | After fighting alongside Americans for 13 years, the Afghan colonel—who led 2,500 soldiers into battle against the Taliban—could only count on himself.

VICE News, October 2022 | ‘Rent My Womb’: Women Are Desperate to Become Surrogates in Mexico | The surrogacy boom in Mexico has grown faster than the regulations to oversee it, putting both surrogates and couples seeking children at risk of exploitation.

VICE News, June 2022 | New ‘Black Panther’ Star Is Calling Out Mexico for Its Racism | Tenoch Huerta has made an unlikely rise to the top of Mexico’s entertainment world—and he’s more outspoken than ever.

VICE News, February 2021 | Deported to Death | This exclusive investigation across three countries shows the dark underbelly of U.S. immigration policies and the human smugglers who exploit them though the story of one man.

Audio Selects

National Public Radio, March 2024 | Mexico's female matadors return to the world's largest bullring | A growing number of female bullfighters are challenging preconceptions about women's abilities and bravery.

National Public Radio, February 2024 | Why the ‘world’s coolest dictator’ is on course for a landslide win in El Salvador | The millennial president has become a one-man juggernaut, but human rights groups accuse him of widespread abuses.

National Public Radio, September 2017 | One Reporter Shares the ‘Extraordinary Generosity’ She Saw After Mexico City’s Earthquake | My first-person account of surviving Mexico City’s deadly 2017 earthquake.

National Public Radio, October 2014 | ‘You Have The Right To Remain Silent.’ Or Do You? | New court decisions in recent years have chipped away at that principle.

National Public Radio, November 2013 | Infamous Stephen Glass Vies for Bar Admission | Who has the moral character to be a lawyer?

Video Selects

VICE News, May 2023 | Mexican Cartels, Cocaine & Crime Rule in Ecuador | Powerful Mexican cartels have exported their drug war south and are turning Ecuador into a war zone.

VICE News, February 2023 | The Brazilian Pro Gun Activists Inspired by the NRA | Inspired by the NRA, pro-gun activists in Brazil have become a powerful political force.

Milenio, February 2022 | American Journalist Uncovers Migrant Smuggling Network | Spanish-language interview about my investigation into a human smuggling ring led by U.S. Marines.

VICE News, October 2021 | COVID Misinformation Has People Injecting Bleach | Across Latin America, the use of chlorine dioxide to prevent and treat COVID, and even combat the “toxic effects” of vaccines, has taken off.

VICE News, March 2021 | I Was Kidnapped at the U.S.-Mexico Border | A rare look inside the shocking brutality of the migrant kidnapping crisis in Mexico, where thousands of people are victimized every year.