COLORLINES - Seth Freed Wessler

Seth Freed Wessler

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.

A Colorblind Supreme Court Hearing on Arizona’s Anti-Immigrant SB 1070

by Seth Freed Wessler on April 26 2012, 10:10AM

Supreme Court Justices seemed to be unconvinced that states like Arizona are breaking the law when they allow police officers to ask people’s immigration statuses if they suspect they’re undocumented.

Topics: Arizona's SB 1070, Immigration

Supreme Court Skeptical of Striking Down Arizona’s SB 1070

by Seth Freed Wessler on April 25 2012, 1:09PM

Arizona argues compellingly that with programs like 287(g) and Secure Communities, SB 1070 merely complements the federal government’s existing enforcement agenda.

Topics: Arizona's SB 1070, Immigration, /NOW

Supreme Court to Hear Oral Arguments on Arizona’s SB 1070 Tomorrow

by Seth Freed Wessler on April 24 2012, 11:04AM

Colorlines.com will cover the hearing and offer analysis of what the High Court must decide. It’s a big day for immigration law in the United States.

Topics: Arizona's SB 1070, Immigration, /NOW

California Pols Move to Keep Immigrant Families Unified During Deportation

by Seth Freed Wessler on April 24 2012, 9:36AM

In reaction to Colorlines.com’s investigation, a state Assembly bill seeks to strengthen parents’ rights to stay in contact with children and child welfare case workers while detained.

Topics: Immigration, Felipe Montes

Georgia Governor Signs Welfare Drug Testing Bill Into Law

by Seth Freed Wessler on April 18 2012, 9:43AM

Georgia Governor Nathan Deal approved a bill on Monday evening that will soon require all applicants to the state cash assistance program to pass a drug test.

Topics: Jobs Crisis, /NOW

Justice Delayed in Deported Dad’s Fight to Regain Custody of Kids

by Seth Freed Wessler on April 13 2012, 8:50AM

Weeks after his case gained national media attention, Felipe Montes says that the North Carolina’s family reunification system is actually set up to work against him.

Topics: Immigration, Felipe Montes

Less Than Half of 3K Detained in ICE Sweeps Convicted of Felonies

by Seth Freed Wessler on April 6 2012, 10:01AM

Federal immigration authorities launched massive raids that netted over 3,100 detentions. But the Obama administration isn’t only focused on deporting so-called ‘violent criminals.’

Topics: Immigration

California Senate Moves To Protect Immigrant Families in Deportation

by Seth Freed Wessler on March 28 2012, 9:47AM

Nearly a quarter of the U.S. citizen children that Colorlines.com found stuck in foster care as parents moved through detention and deportation are in California. The state Senate is moving forward with a bill that would keep their families together.

Topics: Immigration, Felipe Montes

Bloomberg’s Fear of Muslims Helped Drive the NYPD’s Shameless Spying

by Seth Freed Wessler on March 15 2012, 9:28AM

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s defense of the NYPD’s spying on Muslim communities shouldn’t come as a surprise. The Mayor’s had a tense relationship with Muslim and Arab communities for nearly a decade.

Topics: Criminal Justice, National Security, Spying

Bloomberg Basically Admits NYPD Spied on Muslims For No Reason Other Than Religion

by Seth Freed Wessler on March 9 2012, 1:05PM

The New York Police Department has spied on Muslim New Yorkers for no other reason than that they are Muslim. Yesterday, after months of near silence from federal officials, Attorney General Eric Holder called the program “disturbing”.

Topics: Criminal Justice, /NOW, Spying

A Closer Look at Ray Kelly’s Multi-Billion Dollar Army of Spies

by Seth Freed Wessler on March 1 2012, 10:33AM

New York Police Department has argued that it’s spending billions to spy on Muslim Americans in order to foil terror plots. That assertion simply doesn’t hold up against the few facts they’ve been willing to share.

Topics: National Security, Spying

Muslim Students Reeling From Shocking News of NYPD’s Spying

by Seth Freed Wessler on February 24 2012, 9:01AM

On campuses all over the Northeast, horrified students are discovering they were targets of surveillance, simply because they joined a Muslim student group. But domestic religious profiling is now routine for both NPYD and the FBI.

Topics: Criminal Justice, National Security, Spying

Deal Reached to Allow Drug Testing for Jobless Benefits

by Seth Freed Wessler on February 16 2012, 5:33PM

There goes your social safety net.

Topics: /NOW

Deported Dad Begs North Carolina To Give Him Back His Children

by Seth Freed Wessler on February 14 2012, 10:38AM

Nobody argues whether Felipe Montes is a great dad. But the state doesn’t want to send his U.S. citizen kids to Mexico, so he may lose them forever. The Montes are among a growing number of families facing similar crises.

Topics: Immigration, Felipe Montes

House GOP’s Jobless Image: Drugged Out, Lazy and in Need of a GED

by Seth Freed Wessler on February 14 2012, 9:07AM

That’s the picture Republicans want in voters’ minds, too, as Congress prepares for yet another brutal round of jousting over unemployment benefits.

Topics: Economy, Jobs Crisis

How East Haven, Conn., Became Synonymous With Racial Profiling

by Seth Freed Wessler on February 2 2012, 10:22AM

Even if the town cops’ lawlessness is fixed, questions remain that go far beyond East Haven’s city limits. The issue was not just that racist local cops wanted to deport immigrants; it’s that federal immigration authorities obliged them.

Topics: Criminal Justice, Dispatches, Immigration

Muslim Americans to NYPD: Enough Already, the Commish Must Go

by Seth Freed Wessler on January 27 2012, 9:48AM

This week’s revelation that NYPD leaders lied about their participation in an anti-Muslim film that was then shown to 1,500 trainees was just the latest in a growing string of evidence that the department is systematically profiling the city’s Muslim residents.

Topics: Criminal Justice, National Security, Spying

Gingrich Surges With Old, Familiar Ploy: Racist Attacks on Poor People

by Seth Freed Wessler on January 19 2012, 9:57AM

Newt Gingrich has for decades been the GOP standard bearer in using racial caricatures to demonize poor people. Food stamps were spared for a time, leaving them the last functioning part of the economic safety net. No longer.

Topics: GOP Primary, Newt Gingrich, Politics

The Israel Lobby Finds a New Face: Black College Students

by Seth Freed Wessler on January 18 2012, 9:01AM

Supporters of Palestinian rights have charged that Israel is an apartheid state. In response, the country’s staunchest U.S. lobby group is recruiting black college students to say there’s no way Israel can be racist.

Topics: Global Affairs

Dispatch From Detention: A Rare Look Inside Our ‘Humane’ Immigration Jails

by Seth Freed Wessler on January 4 2012, 9:19AM

Deporting 400,000 people a year means big business for the rural towns and private prison contractors that warehouse many detained immigrants.

Topics: Deportation Dragnet, Dispatches, Immigration

Seth Freed Wessler

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