Carnegie-Knight News21, a national reporting initiative headquartered at Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, on Thursday launched its 2025 project "Upheaval Across America," an examination of the second Trump administration's immigration policies and plans for mass deportations.
Throughout his campaign for a second term, President Donald Trump vowed to implement "the largest deportation operation in the history of our country" and take other measures aimed at immigrants in the U.S. On Inauguration Day, that campaign began. "Upheaval Across America" examines the vast ramifications of those policies.
"This was an incredibly difficult subject to report because of the profound fear immigrants and their families are experiencing right now," said Pauline Arrillaga, executive director of the Carnegie-Knight News21 program. "But our fellows persevered, and their work offers a fresh look at the many ways the administration's policies are affecting migrants, their families and American communities."
News21 journalists traveled to more than 30 cities in 10 states, and across the border into Mexico, to report from communities big and small. The journalists conducted extensive research for the project before arriving in Phoenix in May to begin a 10-week reporting fellowship.
They tackled issues including the expansion of immigration detention, the termination of protected status for hundreds of thousands of people, the effect of enforcement policies on military service members, the administration's assault on sanctuary cities and much more.
"It was important to me to be able to tell a story that felt unique and brought a new awareness of immigrants' experiences to readers. News21 allowed me to do just that," said fellow Jessica Sachs of the University of Colorado Boulder, who reported on medical deportation –a little-known practice in which hospitals can return noncitizen patients to their countries of origin.
"I feel like a completely different reporter and person than I was before the program," she said.
Added fellow Tristan E. M. Leach of Arizona State University: "Getting to work with a group of journalists who all bring new knowledge, perspectives and insights is an essential and important part of the process at News21."
The cohort included 21 journalists from 10 universities: Arizona State University, University of Colorado Boulder, University of Florida, Indiana University Bloomington, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University of North Texas, San Diego State University, St. Bonaventure University, Syracuse University and University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
The final project – in text, photos, video and graphics – is available to media outlets for publication at no cost.
Core funding for the program is provided by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Individual fellows were supported by their universities as well as a variety of foundations, news outlets and philanthropic partners including the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, the Scripps Howard Foundation, The Arizona Republic/azcentral, Gray Television, NBCUniversal and more.
In past years, News21 fellows have taken on topics including the state of American democracy, the reversal of Roe v. Wade, police reform, COVID-19, extremist groups and juvenile justice.
That work has been recognized time and again in both professional and student contests. Content from last year's project, "Fractured," won three Telly Awards, a third-place honor in the National Headliner Awards and, for the second year in a row, News21 captured the Collaborative Journalism award in SPJ's Mark of Excellence Awards.
In 2024, News21 was recognized with two RFK Journalism Awards – including the prestigious Grand Prize, a rare honor for college journalists.
Students interested in learning more about News21 and future scholarship opportunities should visit https://news21.com/join-our-team/. Media organizations interested in potentially publishing the project or portions of it should reach out to Pauline Arrillaga at [email protected]. Click here to download content for publication and review terms of use.
Fellows in this summer's program:
- Lee Ann Anderson, University of Florida
- Grace Berry, Arizona State University, NBCU Fellow
- Avery Callens, University of North Texas, Gray Television/Cronkite Fellow
- Carlos Rene Castro, Arizona State University, Howard G. Buffett Foundation Fellow
- Alexa Durben, University of Tennessee-Knoxville
- Alissa Gary, University of Florida
- Lorenzo Gomez, Arizona State University, Howard G. Buffett Foundation Fellow
- Mia Hilkowitz, Indiana University Bloomington
- Tristan E. M. Leach, Arizona State University, NBCU Fellow
- Marissa Lindemann, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Howard G. Buffett Foundation Fellow
- Sydney Lovan, Arizona State University, Howard G. Buffett Foundation Fellow
- Ryan Luetkemeyer, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Howard G. Buffett Foundation Fellow
- Mikayla Melo, Syracuse University
- Meghan O'Brien, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Howard G. Buffett Foundation Fellow
- Hannah Psalma Ramirez, San Diego State University, Scripps Howard Foundation Fellow
- Jessica Sachs, University of Colorado Boulder
- David Scibilia, St. Bonaventure University
- Aaron Stigile, Arizona State University, NBCU Fellow
- Gracyn Thatcher, University of Tennessee-Knoxville
- Ann Marie Vanderveen, University of Colorado Boulder
- Abigail Wilt, Arizona State University, Don Bolles/Arizona Republic Fellow