Francesca D'Annunzio

United States

Investigative Reporter at The Texas Observer

investigative reporter covering US-MX border for @TexasObserver | work in @GuardianUS @NewsHour @GIJN @dallasnews @RNS @ArizCIR 📩 [email protected]

Articles

Local and state police are joining Trump's 'deportation force'

1 month ago | sacurrent.com | Francesca D'Annunzio

This article was originally published by the Texas Observer, a nonprofit investigative news outlet and magazine. Sign up for their weekly newsletter, or follow them on Facebook and X. Since he began touting it on the campaign trail, the idea that President Donald Trump could enact “mass deportations” — totaling perhaps a million a year or more — has been criticized as a tall order.
'Asylum as we know it': An immigration historian on Trump, refuge and exclusion

2 months ago | sacurrent.com | Francesca D'Annunzio

By Francesca D'Annunzio, The Texas Observer on Sat, Feb 22, 2025 at 9:13 am This article was originally published by the Texas Observer, a nonprofit investigative news outlet and magazine. Sign up for their weekly newsletter, or follow them on Facebook and X. President Donald Trump seeks to fundamentally alter how the United States approaches immigration.
The Border Propagandist

2 months ago | codastory.com | Francesca D'Annunzio |Melissa del Bosque |Monica Camacho

Jaeson Jones is trained as a cop—not a journalist. Yet the 51-year-old holds a lucrative correspondent contract at one of the country’s most prominent MAGA-aligned television networks. Jones began his police career as a jailer in Hays County, south of Austin, before becoming a narcotics agent and later a captain in the intelligence and counterterrorism unit in the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS). After a nearly 30-year career, he retired in 2016.
The border propagandist

Jan 17, 2025 | sacurrent.com | Francesca D'Annunzio |Melissa del Bosque |Monica Camacho

This article was originally published by the Texas Observer, a nonprofit investigative news outlet and magazine. Sign up for their weekly newsletter, or follow them on Facebook and X. Editor’s Note: This report is part of “Seeds of Distrust,” an investigative collaboration between Lighthouse Reports, the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting, the Texas Observer, palabra, and Puente News Collaborative. Jaeson Jones is trained as a cop — not a journalist.
Texas gave $1 million in expert contracts to defend border buoys in court

Jan 14, 2025 | sacurrent.com | Francesca D'Annunzio

This article was originally published by the Texas Observer, a nonprofit investigative news outlet and magazine. Sign up for their weekly newsletter, or follow them on Facebook and X. The full cost of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s floating buoy barrier in the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass is greater than previously revealed.
Lawman-turned-propagandist pushing Trump’s border agenda

Jan 14, 2025 | azcir.org | Francesca D'Annunzio |Melissa del Bosque |Monica Camacho

Editor’s note: This report is part of “Seeds of Distrust,” an investigative collaboration between reporters and editors at five nonprofit news organizations: the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting, Lighthouse Reports, palabra, Puente News Collaborative, and the Texas Observer. Jaeson Jones is trained as a cop—not a journalist. Yet the 51-year-old holds a lucrative correspondent contract at one of the country’s most prominent MAGA-aligned television networks.
Surveillance and Control

Dec 10, 2024 | codastory.com | Michael Kennedy |Isobel Cockerell |Francesca D'Annunzio |Erica Hellerstein

Today's most innovative police states owe more to Mark Zuckerberg than to Joseph Stalin. From weaponizing copyright to biometric systems, in this current we explore the security-technology complex and what's at the nexus of the apparatus of surveillance and control.
She Fled Mexico as a Child. Now, She Teaches Migrant Kids in Tamaulipas.

Nov 13, 2024 | texasobserver.org | Francesca D’Annunzio |Francesca D'Annunzio

Under various and ever-shifting policies curtailing access to asylum, dating back to the Trump administration and continuing through that of Biden, United States-bound refugees from all over the world have languished for weeks or months in Mexican border towns abutting the Rio Grande. Some escaped political persecution, while others fled economic deprivation, natural disasters, authoritarian regimes, or war.
Texas Will Be on the ‘Front Lines’ of Mass Deportation

Nov 7, 2024 | texasobserver.org | Francesca D’Annunzio |Francesca D'Annunzio

In Texas and across the country, immigrants and their advocates are now bracing for a second Donald Trump term, which the president-elect has promised would include the nation’s “largest deportation in the history of our country.”Should that plan be fully carried out, experts have explained, the Texas economy and Texas families could face devastation. And the Lone Star State would also likely serve as a logistics hub for Trump’s Eisenhower-esque scheme.
Border 911: The Misinformation Network Profiting Off the ‘Invasion’ Narrative

Nov 4, 2024 | codastory.com | Melissa del Bosque |Maria Polletta |Francesca D'Annunzio |Monica Camacho

For a retired federal employee, Tom Homan, an acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) under the Trump administration, is a very busy man.