Journalist

& PHOTOGRAPHER

  • Abandoned Trump wall project in the Pajarito Mountains

  • U.S. Border Patrol agent in Arizona's border with Sonora

  • Tourism along a potentially deadly migration path

  • Protest in Sonora against Border Patrol and U.S. violence

  • Raw sewage spill along the Nogales Wash from Sonora

  • Mesquite soil vs. drought-afflicted soil

Without pathways to United States, migrants request asylum in Mexico

For The Nogales International

With the complete and illegal shuttering of the U.S. asylum system at the Southern border, a growing number of foreign nationals have looked towards applying for asylum in Mexico instead as a means of finding some semblance of stability.

Left in limbo and without a legal status in Mexico, migrants from other countries are vulnerable to exploitative jobs in addition to facing barriers in accessing health care or education for their children.

“Without legal permission to work, we don’t have a way of life here.”

It’s nearly impossible for WA farmworkers to unionize. Here’s why that matters

For The Seattle Times

Jose Martinez isn’t one to give up a fight.

A longtime workers advocate, Martinez helped spur a state investigation into discrimination at Ostrom Mushroom Farms, a major Pacific Northwest producer, resulting in a $3.4 million settlement over findings that officials fired about 80% of its employees, mostly women, and replaced them with foreign workers under a visa that provides fewer labor rights.

By the time the Washington Attorney General’s Office lawsuit settled, however, Ostrom had been sold to Canadian-owned Windmill Farms. Martinez was rehired by the new company, but he was let go shortly after in what he claims was a discriminatory firing. Windmill Farms refutes allegations of discrimination.

Martinez continues to support a unionization push for his former colleagues — a task complicated by agricultural workers being excluded from federal union protections and the absence of state union certification safeguards for such workers.

Hidden labor, hidden risk

The path to workplace justice for one injured, undocumented laborer illustrates the holes in Labor & Industries, Washington state’s vaunted worker-protection safety net.

For RANGE Media

In early spring of 2023, Francisco M. moved from Georgia to Spokane to work not knowing much about the company he would work for, or even the full name of his supervisor, “Blacky” — a man whose name he said he does not fully know to this day.

He said he had heard about an opportunity to work in construction here from an extended family member in Georgia that had previously worked for the company. (RANGE is identifying Francisco by his first name and last initial because of his immigration status.)

“I was just looking for work,” Francisco told RANGE. “You don’t really have time to think about how people who are undocumented can be exploited for work.”