"Operation Lone Star"
Recipient of the STAR INVESTIGATIVE REPORT OF THE YEAR award in THE CHARLES E. GREEN AWARDS (2022)
Perla Trevizo, Lomi Kriel, Jolie McCullough, Andrew Rodriguez Calderon, Keri Blakinger, Marilyn Thompson, James Barragan and Davis Winkle
Texas Tribune
Judge’s Comments:
The Texas Tribune again demonstrates the value of independent journalism with its effort to bring accountability to the governor's ballyhooed campaign against illegal immigration. Reporters found that evidence to back up the governor's well-oiled political polemic on immigrant crime was sparse, pulling in data on crimes unrelated to immigrants and arrests far from the border, and shifting the metrics when pressed. They showed how a new category of misdemeanor trespassing arrests of nonviolent border crossers became the principal evidence of the impact of the multi-million dollar effort. The collaboration with ProPublica, The Marshall Project and The Military Times also uncovered issues within the ranks of the Texas National Guard, which was straining to fulfill a role in the governor's campaign as well.
Ford Fessenden
The New York Times Investigative Reporter and Data Specialist
Judge’s Bio:
Ford Fessenden is a former investigative reporter and data specialist at The New York Times. His work has included the 2000 Florida ballot review that showed Al Gore got more votes than President George Bush; a detailed account of the last minutes of hundreds of people at the tip of Manhattan on Sept. 11, 2001, pieced together from phone calls, radio transmissions and dozens of interviews; and many groundbreaking visualizations including most recently revelations that Latino voters were turning away from Democrats to vote for Donald Trump. He started his career at The Daily Texan at the University of Texas-Austin and currently lives in New Braunfels and Phoenicia, New York.
To read the prize-winning investigative report from the Texas Tribune, click on the links below:
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