Investigative Reporter
New York, NY
Seth Freed Wessler is a senior research associate at the Applied Research Center and an investigative reporter for Colorlines.com covering immigration, criminal justice, economic and workplace inequality and the safety net.
Seth is author of numerous reports and investigations including "Shattered Families: The Perilous Intersection of Immigration Enforcement and the Child Welfare System," a groundbreaking study that provides the first national estimates on the number of children in foster care whose parents were detained or deported. He also authored "Race and Recession: How Inequality Rigged the Economy and How to Change the Rules," as well as reports on organizing strategies, transportation equity and workplace discrimination.
Seth's reporting and research has taken him across North America, and he was one of the first to report on the Obama administration's unprecedented build-up of immigration enforcement. His Nation Institute Investigative Fund-supported reporting on the effects of welfare reform gained national attention, and he appears regularly on national broadcast media outlets and at conferences around the country.
Previously, Seth worked on racial justice and immigrant rights issues in New England and taught photography to young adults. Seth grew up skating on frozen lakes in Maine and when he's not on a reporting trip, he can be found biking in Brooklyn and striking up conversations with strangers.
Seth tweets at @sethfw.
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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
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: Economy, GOP Primary, Newt Gingrich
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. Colorlines.com’s Seth Freed Wessler takes a rare, troubling look inside their facilities.
Topics: Deportation Dragnet, Dispatches, Immigration
The White House’s Flawed Attempt to Crack Down on Food Stamp ‘Fraud’
by Seth Freed Wessler on December 8 2011, 9:47AM
As the economic downturn continues, poor families of color are often forced to make tough choices. And it’s because they have little recourse.
Topics: Economy
Report: Half of Nation’s Undocumented Adults Have Kids
by Seth Freed Wessler on December 7 2011, 10:00AM
And the federal government’s deportation program is ripping families apart.
Topics: Deportation Dragnet
Georgia Immigrant Couple Fights to Regain Custody of Kids
by Seth Freed Wessler on November 30 2011, 10:00AM
Why? Because they are undocumented immigrants who speak Spanish, according to advocates.
Topics: Deportation Dragnet, Immigration
Obama: Kids Stuck in Foster Care Due to Deportation a ‘Real Problem’
by Seth Freed Wessler on November 14 2011, 2:53PM
President Obama says his administration must “make sure that children aren’t torn from their parents without due process.” A Colorlines.com investigation concluded at least 5,100 kids are stuck in foster care because their parents are detained or deported.
Topics: Deportation Dragnet, Immigration, Shattered Families
U.S. Deports 46K Parents With Citizen Kids in Just Six Months
by Seth Freed Wessler on November 3 2011, 9:30AM
Data obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request reveals nearly a quarter of people deported in first half of 2011 were parents with U.S. citizen children. That’s a dramatic increase from the 10-year period before the Obama administration.
Topics: Deportation Dragnet, Immigration, Shattered Families
Thousands of Kids Lost From Parents In U.S. Deportation System
by Seth Freed Wessler on November 2 2011, 8:00AM
A yearlong investigation by Colorlines.com’s publisher, the Applied Research Center, found more than 5,000 children stuck in foster care because their parents were detained by ICE. One in four deportees have U.S.-born kids and face total loss of parental rights.
Topics: Deportation Dragnet, Immigration, Shattered Families
Documentary Pries Open the Door to Immigrant Detention Centers
by Seth Freed Wessler on October 18 2011, 10:03AM
Latina journalist Maria Hinojosa’s “Lost in Detention” airs tonight on PBS’ Frontline. Colorlines.com spoke with Hinojosa about reporting the film, and the up-close reality of warehousing immigrants awaiting deportation.
Topics: Immigration, Media
ICE Vows More ‘Discretion’ in Deportations. Don’t Hold Your Breath
by Seth Freed Wessler on June 24 2011, 10:50AM
ICE staff have long held broad discretion in immigration cases, yet they have regularly failed to use it, instead ramming through a record number of deportations under Obama.
Topics: Immigration
How X-Men Ignored History and Misread Its Viewers
by Seth Freed Wessler on June 10 2011, 2:59PM
It’s a testament to the colorblind myth that a film about social exclusion set squarely in the era of the American civil rights movement did not include a single developed character of color.
Topics: Arts & Culture
New York Suspends Participation in Embattled Secure Communities
by Seth Freed Wessler on June 2 2011, 9:00AM
The move comes after months of pressure from advocates to get the governor to terminate the program.
Topics: Immigration
Report Documents Fake Terror Threats Concocted by FBI and NYPD
by Seth Freed Wessler on May 23 2011, 9:38AM
Study details three cases in which racially profiled young men were entrapped and convicted for roles in domestic terrorism plots that didn’t exist until cops created them.
Topics: National Security
How the Hunt for Bin Laden Made U.S. Muslims and Immigrants Threats
by Seth Freed Wessler on May 4 2011, 10:07AM
The massive national security apparatus built in the wake of 9/11 reshaped life at our borders and in our communities.
Topics: National Security, Osama Bin Laden
A Year After SB 1070, the Deportation Pipeline Still Begins in Washington
by Seth Freed Wessler on April 25 2011, 10:52AM
From Arizona to Georgia, states are vying to make draconian policy. But the feds still set the rules that are deporting a record number of people.
Topics: Immigration, SB 1070 Copycats
Welcome to the Wild, Wild South: Georgia Passes SB 1070 Copycat Bill
by Seth Freed Wessler on April 15 2011, 1:23PM
All eyes now move to a small handful of other states where similar bills may still pass.
Topics: Immigration, SB 1070 Copycats
Arizona SB 1070 Copycats Fall Flat in Most State Legislatures
by Seth Freed Wessler on March 31 2011, 12:37PM
Nearly half of the bills have died, and many of the remaining are expected to fail as well. But all eyes are on Georgia as the potential next Arizona.
Topics: Immigration, SB 1070 Copycats
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