What is it really like to cover immigration at the U.S./Mexico border?
Here’s your chance to find out.
Applications are now open for Beat Academy’s “Immigration in Focus” reporting workshop, set for June 5-6 in El Paso, Texas.
Thanks to funding from the Catena Foundation, 20 journalists who attended or watched the replay of our March 14 Beat Academy webinar on immigration can apply for the trip.
Priority is given to those who have already enrolled in Beat Academy and attended or watched the session on immigration. Everyone accepted for the workshop must be enrolled in Beat Academy before the workshop begins.
Participants will be reimbursed for airfare and related travel. The program will take care of meals and lodging in El Paso. A current passport is strongly recommended.
Participants will spend two days gaining a first-hand look at the dynamics at the border. Activities in the works include:
- A walk along the border with a guide from U.S. Customs and Border Protection to learn about interactions between migrants and border patrol agents.
- A chance to meet with aid workers to talk about the people they assist right after they cross the border to get a sense of their condition, their reasons for coming to the United States, and their plans.
- Talking with local journalists, likely from both sides of the border, about what they see and the challenges they face.
- Talking with local officials about the ways they aim to manage new arrivals.
- Learning about helpful census data tools.
- Discussions with policy experts and analysts about the disconnect between current immigration laws and policies, the increased number of people presenting themselves at the border, and the links between what happens in Texas and the arrival of migrants in states far from the border.
While the focus on immigration as a national issue is often presented through a southern border lens, it impacts communities from the Mexican border to Canada, and from coast to coast.
“It takes a lot for people to leave behind everything they’ve known for an uncertain future,” said Jon Greenberg, Beat Academy lead faculty. “Reporters from across the country will understand their experience more deeply when they see one of the places where they first arrive.”
Other on-the-ground experts include Zita Arocha, professor emeritus at the University of Texas El Paso, founder of Borderzine, and the lead faculty for the Poynter training Understanding U.S. Immigration From the Border to the Heartland.
“The public has many misperceptions about life at the border, many of them negative,” Arocha said. “The reality is far different. The region is a unique point of convergence between countries, languages, cultures, and traditions.”
She said that “La Frontera” is often called a third country because of its vibrancy and richness.
“One must experience the borderland to understand it.”
Applications are due by April 2, and selected participants will be notified shortly thereafter.
If you have any questions, please Jon Greenberg at beatacademy@poynter.org.
