Investigative Reporter
New York, NY
Seth Freed Wessler is a reporter in New York who currently writes for Colorlines.com. Seth has reported from across the United States, Mexico and the Caribbean on immigration, the safety net, criminal justice, national security and the human fallout of the financial collapse.
Seth led a groundbreaking investigation that revealed the thousands of U.S. citizen children stuck in foster care whose parents have been detained or deported by federal immigration authorities. The investigation, for which Seth won a Hillman Prize and other honors, Along with Seth's series of follow-up stories, led to a direct response from the federal government, as well as the passage of state-level legislation. Seth worked until 2012 as a researcher for the Applied Research Center, where he authored research reports on racial inequality and the financial collapse, segregation in the restaurant industry and the corrosive effects of immigration policies on child welfare systems. Seth often discusses his reporting in national broadcast, and his stories and investigations for Colorlines have been cited by outlets including the Associated Press, the New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and NPR. He has produced stories for GOOD Magazine, the Texas Observer, NPR’s LatinoUSA, The Huffington Post, The Root and other outlets. In addition to the Hillman Prize, Seth was a finalist for a Casey Medal and has won several Ippies Awards. He was the recipient of a reporting fellowship from USC Annenberg's Institute for Justice and Journalism.
Check out Seth's media appearances here.
Seth tweets at @sethfw.
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Kyl Shoots and Misses on Kagan Immigration Brief
by Seth Freed Wessler on June 28 2010, 3:26PM
The senator hopes to put Kagan on the spot for the administration’s brief challenging (likely unconstitutional) another Arizona law. He ought to know she didn’t write it.
Topics: Elena Kagan
How Congress Ignores the Jobless Without Political Worry
by Seth Freed Wessler on June 24 2010, 6:27PM
Frances Fox Piven says it’s because people getting benefits no longer share a public space—where organizing could happen.
Topics: Economy
by Seth Freed Wessler on June 24 2010, 3:50PM
ColorLines is tracking state legislative efforts to mirror Arizona’s law empowering cops to search anyone they suspect to be undocumented. Check out our map of bills and proposals.
Topics: Arizona's SB 1070, Immigration
U.S. Social Forum: Foreclosures Still the Story in Detroit
by Seth Freed Wessler on June 23 2010, 7:37AM
Bombed out houses and unemployment lines; empty factories and empty lots. These are the images that have come to animate Detroit’s decline, its deep and deepening depression.
Topics: Economy
U.S. Social Forum: Getting Started in the Streets
by Seth Freed Wessler on June 23 2010, 6:00AM
Thousands of marchers streamed through the Detroit streets for three miles yesterday to open the U.S. Social Forum. Today, activists from across the country continue rolling into the humid Detroit heat on bikes, in buses, in packed vans and by…
Topics:
Fixing the World at the U.S. Social Forum
by Seth Freed Wessler on June 22 2010, 1:07PM
Forget Davos. The future will be created in Detroit, where 20,000 progressives convene this week.
Topics:
Supreme Court To Obama: Put Fairness Back Into the Deportation Process
by Seth Freed Wessler on June 17 2010, 2:21PM
As Obama’s administration continues its mad rush to the right on immigration—deporting more people than ever before in history—the Supreme Court has recently called for some small semblance of reason along the way. In an important and unanimous decision issued…
Topics: Immigration
Unanimous Supreme Court Narrows Deportation Pipeline
by Seth Freed Wessler on June 14 2010, 11:48PM
In a hugely significant unanimous decision Monday, the Supreme Court ruled that a documented immigrant convicted of two minor drug-possession crimes will not face mandatory deportation. The ruling could drastically alter implementation of a controversial 1996 law that limited discretion…
Topics: Immigration
U.S. Won’t Support UN investigation of Flotilla Raid
by Seth Freed Wessler on June 11 2010, 7:14PM
Nearly two weeks after Israel’s deadly raid on a flotilla of humanitarian ships intent on breaking the blockade of Gaza, the United States continues to send mixed messages in response. Pres. Obama decided this week to send $400 million in…
Topics: Global Affairs
Obama and Abbas to Discuss, but Not Deal with Gaza Crisis
by Seth Freed Wessler on June 9 2010, 5:48PM
UPDATE 5:45 PM ET: Pres. Obama pledged $400 million in U.S. aid for the West Bank and Gaza today following a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. According to the White House, the aid will be used to build housing…
Topics: Global Affairs
Poll: Jobless Insurance Now, Deficit Reduction Later
by Seth Freed Wessler on June 8 2010, 10:36AM
The Senate is expected to begin debate today on extending unemployment insurance until November. The overwhelming majority of Americans support doing so, according to a new poll, but the Senate is poised to ignore that fact—not to mention the plight…
Topics: Economy, Race and Recession
It’s Official, No Immigration Reform This Year, But More Enforcement Anyway
by Seth Freed Wessler on June 7 2010, 2:33PM
The last glimmers of hope that a comprehensive immigration reform bill would pass this year are rapidly fading in Washington. In place of a broad bill, advocates and policy makers are now moving toward a piecemeal approach to immigration reform…
Topics: Immigration
Another Ship Heads to Gaza, Israel Again Vows to Protect Blockade
by Seth Freed Wessler on June 4 2010, 10:00AM
A new ship is headed to Gaza today, and the Israeli government has once again vowed to stop the vessel. The boat, which flies the Irish flag, is named the Rachel Corrie, after the young American student crushed to death…
Topics: Global Affairs
Will American’s Death in Gaza Flotilla Change U.S. Stance on Israel?
by Seth Freed Wessler on June 3 2010, 11:50AM
An American citizen is reported to be among the 9 people killed by Israeli solders aboard a flotilla of ships headed to Gaza on Monday. Turkish investigators have identified one of the bodies flown from Israel to Turkey yesterday as…
Topics: Global Affairs
Sex Assault Charges Back in ICE Detention Centers
by Seth Freed Wessler on June 3 2010, 11:10AM
Immigration and Customs Enforcement quietly announced last week that it is investigating alleged sexual assault at a privately run immigrant detention center in Texas. The incident is the latest in a string of sexual assault charges and convictions at Texas…
Topics: Immigration
Israel, Gaza and the ‘Lynching’ of Morality
by Seth Freed Wessler on June 2 2010, 12:00PM
The U.S. conversation about Israeli violence is still bound by false equivalencies and feigned victimhood.
Topics: Global Affairs
Senate Says Happy Memorial Day by Taking a Vacation without Extending Unemployment Benefits
by Seth Freed Wessler on May 28 2010, 9:30AM
As many as 200,000 people may lose their unemployment insurance benefits in early June, because the Senate has once again failed to extend the program. Senate Democrats announced on Thursday that they were once again unable to pass an extension…
Topics: Economy, Race and Recession
Obama Rushes to the Right on Immigration
by Seth Freed Wessler on May 27 2010, 9:00AM
When President Obama announced his plan on Monday to send 1,200 National Guard troops to “secure” the U.S.-Mexico border, he no doubt thought he was putting money down on immigration reform. The problem is that thus far in our sordid…
Topics: Immigration
by Seth Freed Wessler on May 26 2010, 9:30AM
Visual design: Hatty Lee The House is expected to vote today on a measure to extend jobless benefits through the end of the year. If the extension passes, 5 million people who would otherwise be left without support in this…
Topics:
Will Congress Get it Together and Pass an Unemployment Insurance Extension?
by Seth Freed Wessler on May 25 2010, 10:16AM
The House was expected to vote today to extend unemployment benefits until the end of the year. But according the the Ways and Means Committee press office this morning, the spending measure will not make it to the floor until…
Topics: Economy
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