In a yearlong series of stories, a team of AP journalists illuminated the Trump administration's approach to child separation, from documenting a migrant caravan that stretched from Central America to the U.S.-Mexico border to uncovering how deported parents could lose their children to adoption.
Notably, AP was first to report that infants were among children being forcibly separated from their families at the border and catalog the detainment facilities where kids where held and sometimes physically abused. The AP’s immigration coverage was also a 2019 Pulitzer Prize finalist in the national reporting category.
“The strength of AP’s immigration coverage has been in teamwork,” said AP Managing Editor Brian Carovillano. “Nearly three dozen journalists spanning multiple departments, beats and borders came together to break news and provide unparalleled insight and understanding on one of the key issues of our time.”
Here is a selection of stories:
- Honduran teen tells of abuse, isolation at detention center
- Hunger, fear, desperation: What came of an ordinary ICE raid
- ‘Suffering’ ends with Honduran baby back in parents’ arms
- Kids as young as 1 in US court, awaiting reunion with family
- Deportations take unique toll on blended American families
- ‘A moral disaster’: AP reveals scope of migrant kids program
- PHOTOS: Migrant caravan captured the world’s attention in 2018
Dozens of AP reporters, photographers, video journalists and editors in the U.S. and Latin America contributed to the reporting, including the 11 journalists whose work was spotlighted in the award entry: photographer Rodrigo Abd, investigative reporter Michael Biesecker, photographer Rebecca Blackwell, video journalist Allen Breed, investigative reporter Garance Burke, reporter Astrid Galvan, National Writer Martha Mendoza, reporter Nomaan Merchant, National Writer Matt Sedensky, reporter Julie Watson and former AP reporter Jake Pearson.
A full list of RFK Journalism Award winners can be found here.