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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VideoWill 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
Child Care Cuts Expose Longstanding Failure in Welfare Reform
by Seth Freed Wessler on May 24 2010, 10:09AM
States across the country are slashing already beleaguered subsidized child care programs and leaving parents without recourse, unable to find a job and too poor to pay for child care without one. The New York Times printed a front page…
Topics: Economy, Race and Recession
AZ Sen. Russell Pearce Smells Blood: Intends to Prey on US Citizen Children of Immigrants
by Seth Freed Wessler on May 21 2010, 9:30AM
Russell Pearce, the Arizona state Senator who spearheaded SB 1070, the harshest anti-immigrant law in the country, is not stopping there. His next assault may be on the 14th Amendment and the citizenship rights of US citizen children of immigrants….
Topics: Immigration
Rhode Island Introduces SB 1070 Copycat Legislation
by Seth Freed Wessler on May 19 2010, 3:29PM
A Rhode Island state lawmaker introduced legislation yesterday that closely resembles Arizona’s SB 1070, the law that criminalizes the presence of undocumented immigrants and essentially requires racial profiling. The Rhode Island bill, H 8142, was introduced by Rep. Peter Palumbo,…
Topics: Immigration
UPDATE: Undocumented Dream Act Students Handed Over to ICE
by Seth Freed Wessler on May 19 2010, 1:45PM
UPDATE 1:35PM ET: After their arrest and subsequent apprehension by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) yesterday, the three undocumented students who staged a sit-in in Sen. John McCain’s office on Monday were released from custody. The students will still face…
Topics: Immigration
Shahzad Appears in Court after 2 Weeks, Becomes Canvas for Due Process Debate
by Seth Freed Wessler on May 19 2010, 9:57AM
Pakistani-born US citizen Faisal Shahzad, 30, (R) is pictured in a courtroom sketch during a brief federal court appearance May 18, 2010 in New York City. (Courtroom sketch by Christine Cornell/Getty Images) Faisal Shahzad, the man who allegedly attempted…
Topics: National Security
Courage! Undocumented Students Arrested After McCain Sit-in [VIDEO]
by Seth Freed Wessler on May 18 2010, 10:50AM
Most people have never done anything so courageous. Of course, most people’s lives don’t depend on it.
Topics: DREAM Act, Immigration
The Arizona Legal Battle is On
by Seth Freed Wessler on May 17 2010, 8:50PM
The battle over Arizona’s SB 1070 ratcheted up today when a coalition of legal advocates filed a class action suit against the state.
Topics: Arizona's SB 1070, Immigration
Schwarzenegger’s Budget: Let Them Eat Cake
by Seth Freed Wessler on May 17 2010, 9:55AM
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday outlined his 2011 budget, offering no less than the promise of total desperation for low income families. The budget eliminates the state’s welfare-to-work program and cuts subsidized child care beyond preschool. Eliminating CalWorks, the…
Topics:
With Miranda, Obama Moves Dangerously to the Right
by Seth Freed Wessler on May 11 2010, 11:59AM
A day after Attorney General Eric Holder said he’s working to amend the Miranda law for terrorism suspects, Obama’s chief political adviser, David Axelrod, told CNN that the president is “open to looking at” a change to the rule. The…
Topics: National Security
Holder’s Slippery Slope: Denying Miranda Rights on the Way to Torture
by Seth Freed Wessler on May 10 2010, 11:59AM
Attorney General Eric Holder announced yesterday that the Obama administration will move to make the Miranda law more flexible for people facing accusations of terror. The debate over whether or not to Mirandize terrorism suspects has been renewed by the…
Topics: National Security
Does Obama Administration Support Expatriation and Assassination of US Citizens?
by Seth Freed Wessler on May 7 2010, 10:43AM
UPDATE @ 12:00 ET White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said yesterday that nobody in the White House supports the recently proposed legislation that would strip the citizenship of US citizens connected to International terrorist groups. The statements however, contradict…
Topics: National Security
Will South Carolina Follow Arizona’s Lead?
by Seth Freed Wessler on May 5 2010, 4:29PM
South Carolina is the first and only state to have introduced a SB 1070 copycat bill since Arizona passed the law. There are 10 additional states where lawmakers have said they’d do the same. While many of those states are…
Topics: Immigration
Lieberman Will Introduce Bill to Take Away Citizen’s Citizenship
by Seth Freed Wessler on May 5 2010, 10:30AM
Following the arrest of Faisal Shahzad, a Pakistani-born, US citizen who is said to have admitted to involvement in Sunday’s failed Time Square bombing, the airways and Congressional wings were buzzing with talk of how to strip the citizenship rights…
Topics: National Security
Paterson Tries to Make New York the Anti-Arizona State
by Seth Freed Wessler on May 4 2010, 4:25PM
New York Governor David Paterson moved yesterday to affirm New York as the country’s anti-Arizona state. The New York Times reports today: Gov. David A. Paterson announced on Monday that the state would accelerate consideration and granting of pardons to…
Topics: Immigration
The Far-Right Movement Behind Arizona Copycat Bills
by Seth Freed Wessler on May 4 2010, 12:00PM
State lawmakers pushing a new crop of immigration-enforcement bills are overwhelmingly affiliated with a network tied to eugenics and anti-Latino fear-mongering.
Topics: Immigration
The Rightward Drift of Immigration Reform
by Seth Freed Wessler on April 30 2010, 12:00PM
Harry Reid’s bill makes a bad framework worse. And it still won’t move.
Topics:
Rachel Maddow Exposes Racist Origins of SB1070
by Seth Freed Wessler on April 28 2010, 10:00AM
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy Rachel Maddow spent a rich six minutes this week unpacking the racist roots of SB1070, Arizona’s obviously racist immigration bill. The bill, she reports, was drafted by an…
Topics: Immigration
Dim and Dimmer Chances of an Immigration Reform Bill
by Seth Freed Wessler on April 27 2010, 1:55PM
Washington’s game of immigration-reform dodgeball got particularly intense this week after Arizona passed its racial police state bill. Many looked east to DC, hoping that the Grand Canyon State’s new law would push lawmakers to move on immigration reform. But…
Topics: Immigration
Arizona Legislature Passes Racist Immigration Bill, Advocates Urge Governor’s Veto
by Seth Freed Wessler on April 14 2010, 10:00AM
Advocates in the state of Arizona are streaming into Phoenix today to urge Republican Gov. Jan Brewer to veto what might be the most draconian state immigration law ever passed. The Arizona legislature yesterday voted 21-to-35 along party lines to…
Topics: Immigration
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