Perla Trevizo

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Perla Trevizo is a reporter for the ProPublica-Texas Tribune Investigative Initiative. Trevizo is a Mexican-American reporter born in Ciudad Juárez and raised across the border in El Paso, Texas, where she began her journalism career. Trevizo spent more than 10 years covering immigration and border issues in Tennessee and Arizona before joining the Houston Chronicle as an environmental reporter. She has written from nearly a dozen countries, from African refugee camps to remote Guatemalan villages, with the goal of broadening readers’ understanding of the global issues that impact the local communities where she has worked. Her work has earned her national and state awards including the Dori J. Maynard Award for Diversity in Journalism, French-American Foundation Immigration Journalism Award, and a national Edward R. Murrow for a story done in collaboration with Arizona Public Media. She was also honored as the 2019 Arizona Journalist of the Year by the Arizona Newspaper Association.

Help ProPublica Reporters Investigate the Immigration System

We need your help to find productive ways to examine the country’s immigration system — what’s working and what isn’t. We especially want to hear from federal workers, attorneys, employers, labor advocates and ESL teachers.

Feds Advance Portable Generator Safety Rule to Prevent Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

Saying that manufacturers failed to make generators safer, the Consumer Product Safety Commission is moving forward with proposed regulations to bolster protections. The proposal comes after reporting by ProPublica, The Texas Tribune and NBC News.

Texas Governor Says Most Gun Crimes Involve Illegally Owned Weapons. That’s Not True for Mass Shootings.

The majority of the state’s 19 mass shootings over the past six decades were carried out by men who legally possessed firearms, an investigation by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune found.

Despite Decades of Mass Shootings in Texas, Legislators Have Failed to Pass Meaningful Gun Control Laws

State lawmakers have rejected dozens of bills that would have prevented people from legally obtaining weapons used in many mass shootings. Instead, they’ve made it easier for residents to get guns and harder for local governments to regulate them.

DOJ Tried to Hide Report Warning That Private Border Wall in Texas Could Collapse

The report confirms a ProPublica and Texas Tribune investigation that found the privately built fencing could collapse during major flooding. The federal government resisted making the findings public for more than a year.

Texas Churches Violate the Law Ahead of Tuesday’s Election, Experts Say

Churches in Texas invited Beto O’Rourke and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick to speak to their congregations before the 2022 midterms, raising questions about the effectiveness of the Johnson Amendment.

Greg Abbott’s Executive Power Play

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has consolidated power like none before him, at times circumventing the GOP-controlled Legislature and overriding local officials. A flurry of executive measures has solidified his base and raised his national profile.

D.C. Attorney General Opens Investigation Into Republican Governors’ Shipping of Immigrants to the Capital

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and others have been sending thousands of immigrants to Washington, D.C. Karl Racine, the district’s attorney general, is investigating whether immigrants have been deceived.

A Shut-Off Switch Was Supposed to Prevent 99% of Generator-Related Deaths. It Failed a Family of Three.

The generator industry has touted automatic shut-off switches as a lifesaving fix for carbon monoxide poisoning. But the voluntary standard falls short of what federal regulators say is necessary to eliminate deaths.

DOJ Investigating Texas’ Operation Lone Star for Alleged Civil Rights Violations

Emails obtained by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune confirm that federal authorities are probing discrimination claims involving Gov. Greg Abbott’s multibillion-dollar border initiative.

Congress Investigates Portable Generator Manufacturers Following Carbon Monoxide Deaths

Many generators available for sale have not received potentially lifesaving safety upgrades. Citing a ProPublica, Texas Tribune and NBC News investigation, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform wants to know why.

Settlement Over Private Border Wall Won’t Stop Flooding or Erosion of Rio Grande Shoreline, Experts Say

Federal authorities have reached a deal that gives builders of the privately funded fence control over where to inspect for damage and leeway over which issues they choose to repair.

They Built the Wall. Problems Remain After Founder’s Guilty Plea.

Brian Kolfage, a 40-year-old Air Force veteran, faces more than five years in prison after pleading guilty to defrauding donors of hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations to the wall effort.

Reality Check: Seven Times Texas Leaders Misled the Public About Operation Lone Star

As they investigated Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s border initiative, reporters repeatedly found situations where Abbott and DPS officials cited accomplishments that lacked crucial context or did not match reality. Here are a few examples.

Examining Nearly Two Decades of Taxpayer-Funded Border Operations

Since 2005, Texas Govs. Rick Perry and Greg Abbott have launched a multitude of widely publicized and costly border initiatives, which usually kicked off during their reelection campaigns or while they were considering bids for higher office.

Help Us Investigate Texas Border Security Initiatives

We’re looking into Texas’ border security initiatives, including what has worked, what hasn’t and how they affect residents. If you have experience on the border, we’d like to hear from you.

Texas’ Governor Brags About His Border Initiative. The Data Doesn’t Back Him Up.

Arrests of U.S. citizens hundreds of miles from the border. Claiming drug busts from across the state. Changing statistics. We dug into the data Texas leaders use to boast about Operation Lone Star, and it raises more questions than answers.

Carbon Monoxide Killed a Mother and Daughter. A Firefighter Was Reprimanded After a Delayed 911 Response.

After half of a family was found dead from carbon monoxide poisoning, reporting by ProPublica, The Texas Tribune and NBC News revealed that a fire crew had failed to enter the house to check on them. A firefighter has now been disciplined.

U.S. Plans New Safety Rules to Crack Down on Carbon Monoxide Poisoning from Portable Generators

The announcement comes two months after an investigation by ProPublica, The Texas Tribune and NBC News detailed the deadly cost of the government’s failure to regulate portable generators.

El monóxido de carbono que producen los generadores envenena a miles de personas al año. Estados Unidos ha fallado en exigir cambios de seguridad.

Los generadores portátiles están entre los productos de consumo más mortales. Dos décadas después de que el gobierno identificará el peligro, el sistema deja a la gente vulnerable al permitir que la industria se regule a sí misma.

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