Miriam jordan nytimes

And after reading her story on Elsa Johana Ortiz Enriquez, miriam jordan nytimes, 25, who was deported to Guatemala last year without her son, several high-profile lawyers used their influence to persuade governmental agencies to allow him to return to Guatemala.

Skip to Content. Miriam Jordan is a national immigration correspondent at the New York Times. She reports from a grassroots perspective about the impact of U. Through intimate stories of immigrants, she has explained to readers "chain migration," visas known by esoteric acronyms like H-1B, and programs such as DACA, which allowed young adults brought to the country illegally as children to stay and work. Jordan chronicled the Trump administration's family-separation policy unveiled last year. Her accounts spotlighted the experience of separated children; the reunification of families once the policy was suspended; and the trauma of both children and parents as they tried to settle into life in the U.

Miriam jordan nytimes

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CopyrightColumbia Journalism Review.

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In a recent interview, New York Times immigration reporter Miriam Jordan revealed how she goes about putting together an immigration story. Summarized, Jordan is heavily if not exclusively dependent on two sources: immigration lawyers and immigrants, often illegally present. Jordan also occasionally reaches out to advocacy groups and aid workers, but is cautious about citing federal immigration statistics. While these reputable think tanks are not advocacy groups per se, they promote higher immigration levels. Since she relies exclusively on sources that promote more immigration, Jordan cannot write a fair and balanced immigration story. Consider the lawyers she depends on for her material. No organization more richly profits from immigration increases than the American Immigration Lawyers Association. Imagine that a reporter gets an assignment to determine how often consumers should buy a new car. Then the reporter exclusively interviews National Automobile Dealers Association members. The high probability is that, according to the dealers, the prudent plan would be to purchase new every couple of years — more safety features have been added, the latest models yield better gas mileage, and better long-term financing is available to the buyer.

Miriam jordan nytimes

And after reading her story on Elsa Johana Ortiz Enriquez, 25, who was deported to Guatemala last year without her son, several high-profile lawyers used their influence to persuade governmental agencies to allow him to return to Guatemala. Jordan spoke to CJR about populating urgent, rapidly evolving stories with sources who face unique risks in coming forward. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

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Still, I felt a pit in my stomach when I learned of every clutch of firings. I sometimes check how many page views a story got. I try to let the circumstances lead the reader to make conclusions about how the immigrant is feeling or their state of mind, as opposed to ascribing certain qualities to them. Search Enter the terms you wish to search for. And how many people cared to read it—or click on it. Other times, I turn to immigration attorneys and advocacy groups. I strongly prefer to name people, first and last name. Copyright , Columbia Journalism Review. Fast forward to now, and the country is in major upheaval. We have to be careful because many readers, justifiably, become skeptical of the credibility of unnamed sources, and may question whether the sources have an agenda. I think it dehumanizes the person [to be anonymous] and also strips away the credibility of the piece. I interviewed someone who was very much involved in establishing that sprawling encampment, and I was able to obtain information before other media that that encampment was going to close. How do you think through identifying factors, like including their full names in your story? Through intimate stories of immigrants, she has explained to readers "chain migration," visas known by esoteric acronyms like H-1B, and programs such as DACA, which allowed young adults brought to the country illegally as children to stay and work.

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That is definitely one way to ascertain whether a story has been successful. I interviewed someone who was very much involved in establishing that sprawling encampment, and I was able to obtain information before other media that that encampment was going to close. While in Salt Lake City, I realized that there was a large contingent of Venezuelans who had fled upheaval in their country and settled there. That source could not be named under any circumstance. Success is getting policy-makers to pay attention to something. Did you inform her of the risks in being named publicly? Copyright , Columbia Journalism Review. Once you hear the same story about a particular issue from the umpteenth source working directly with an immigrant community, you can come to some conclusion that this is happening on a certain scale. If we hear that there are children at shelters who were sexually abused, we have a story idea, but I need to populate it with people. Perhaps the story would risk the job of some of her colleagues, but it was for the greater good of the undocumented immigrant population. But the fact that it was circulated on the Hill tells me, Hey, this could lead to some positive change. Jordan lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Jonathan, and is the mother of adult girl-boy twins. To do so I will reach out to a panoply of people—lawyers, advocacy organizations, former aid workers. The workers were terminated at several golf properties over several weeks.