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Lauren Villagran Profile
Lauren Villagran

@laurenvillagran

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Reporting for @USATODAY from the U.S.-Mexico border. Human migration. Borders. Preguntona. Fronteriza.

El Paso, TX
Joined August 2010
Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
1 year
“His name is Joe.” But for a few blissful minutes on the international @AP wire in 2020, he was “José Biden.” #ElPaso #Texas #POTUS
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
1 year
BREAKING: #ElPaso Mayor Oscar Leeser declares a state of emergency just days before #Title42 expires. Migrants have been sleeping on the street in freezing temps. “I really believe that, today, our asylum seekers are not safe,” he said. #immigration #Texas @elpasotimes
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
4 years
“Invasion” is the same language used by the shooter who killed 23 people in #ElPaso in a racist, hate-motivated mass shooting on Aug. 3, 2019.
@CBPMarkMorgan
CBP Mark Morgan
4 years
If the current network of tools and policies we have, which ended catch and release, are stopped - we won’t just have another illegal immigration crisis - we’ll have an invasion.
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
7 months
Some personal news: After four years at the El Paso Times, I’m thrilled to be joining @USATODAY as a national reporter covering #immigration & national news. Pls send story ideas, good vibes & strong coffee 😊
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
4 years
24-year-old Rodormiro Ramos, his wife & twin boys were among 58,713 families apprehended at the U.S. southern border in April, many seeking asylum.
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
5 years
I am very proud to be part of the hard-working @elpasotimes staff at this moment. Our #frontpage today. #ElPasoStrong
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
4 years
More testimonies from inside #ICEDetention from @elpasotimes & @USATODAY : Irrael Arzuaga Milanes came to the US border with uncle Maxiel. “By keeping us here for 7 or 8 months, they are making money on us because we are a business for them,” he told @elpasotimes .
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
4 years
There were eight Mexican nationals and one German among the dead @JohnCornyn .
@JohnCornyn
Senator John Cornyn
4 years
What happened in El Paso a year ago today is unspeakable and heartbreaking – we will never forget the 23 Texans who lost their lives that day and the dozens of others wounded.
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
4 years
He waited 4 months in Mexico & went to court like he was supposed to. But with no work & his family in the US, he became desperate & crossed illegally. Now he is detained by ICE at Otero. Because he is seeking asylum, he hasn’t been deported but doesn’t have a court date either.
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
5 years
Big news, folks! After 6 years in southern #NewMexico reporting for @abqjournal & @SearchlightNM , I am headed back to #Texas to cover the #border & #immigration for @elpasotimes & @USATODAY ! Looking forward to joining @zahiratorres & @Gannett colleagues soon >>> 😊
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
2 years
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
5 years
A 7-year-old Guatemalan girl died in #BorderPatrol custody after crossing with her father & 161 other migrants in the #NewMexico Bootheel. @DHSgov officials just tried to explain to reporters how remote & dangerous the region is, but it's hard to convey if you haven't seen it.
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
8 months
148 dead. Migration has never been so deadly in El Paso as it was this year. The toll was more than double last year, and a record for West Texas & New Mexico. #immigration @elpasotimes 👇
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
4 years
Testimonies from inside #ICEDetention from @elpasotimes & @USATODAY : Maxiel Milanes Sanchez, 46, fled Cuba after being detained & beaten by the “political police” on 15-20 occasions, according to a transcript of his credible fear interview.
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
4 years
“Inhumane things are happening here,” Rolando told @elpasotimes . A judge is supposed to make a final decision in his case but he doesn’t know when. “That is my anguish,” he said.
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
8 months
BREAKING in El Paso: CBP says it is temporarily suspending processing of cargo at the Bridge of the Americas to process #migrants arriving between ports of entry.
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
1 year
I get asked a lot: Do you feel safe in Mexico? My answer: Do you feel safe in #Texas ?
@Joeycules
Joey Palacios - Texas Public Radio
1 year
Demonstrators supporting and opposing the Christmas drag show at the Aztec Theater in San Antonio have begun arriving. Both sides are armed. The far right group claims the show is grooming children. Counter protesters are here supporting LGBTQ rights and anti-fascism. @TPRNews
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
4 years
Authorities sent Rodormiro to Juarez under the Remain In Mexico program & released his wife & kids to family in Virginia. Photo by @LambieMark @ the Tornillo holding center east of El Paso.
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
4 years
Rolando Matamoros Garcia says he faced persecution & arbitrary detention in Cuba. The 32-year-old has now been in ICE custody for 13 months, pursuing an asylum claim with no end in sight.
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
3 years
To all the #journalists headed to the US-Mexico #border to cover #immigration , bienvenidos! Some thoughts/1
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
4 months
A migrant woman rests at El Paso’s Annunciation House shelter after being entangled in razor wire at the #Texas border. “Do we look at that & then say, ‘Thank you Jesus for helping protect us?’” asked Ruben Garcia of @AHouseElPaso . AH volunteer photo shared w/ permission.
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
4 years
Because #coronavirus sucks, I'm rebooting my story about Camila the border-crossing wiener dog. I like to think she is still trotting across, laughing at human attempts to close the #border . Also, she also just won me 1st place in @APME awards :).
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
4 years
And still more testimonies from #ICEDetention from @elpasotimes & @USATODAY : Cuban dancer Alberto Fernandez saw his parole denied despite being found to have a credible fear of returning to Cuba, where he was persecuted for opposing the regime.
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
4 years
I am writing about frontline health workers in #ElPaso for @elpasotimes . The story has taken 6 days. Every day I update the death toll in the 5th paragraph. I started at 657. Today it's 725. 68 people have died in the time it took to write this story. #COVID19 #WearAMask
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
4 years
“You go see a judge,” Irrael said. “You can take with you whatever evidence you have, & they will tell you to your face, ‘It’s a lie.’ They send you to appeal your case. The appeals process lasts 6 months & then, everything is still denied.”
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
4 years
Ariel Guzman Acosta, a Cuban asylum seeker, was detained at Otero months without seeing a judge. “We don’t understand why they have detained me and the other asylum seekers without parole,” he told @elpasotimes . “They have in many cases given incoherent explanations.”
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
3 months
BREAKING: US federal court preliminarily prevents #Texas from enforcing #SB4 , the law that would make it a state crime to cross the Texas-Mexico border unlawfully. #Texas
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
4 years
Maxiel says has been detained by ICE for more than 3 months without seeing a judge.
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
5 years
Her 8-year-old niece called her mamá. #BorderPatrol separated them anyway. My latest on #familyseparations at the #border for @elpasotimes
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
3 years
I hope they don't correct this. #josebiden MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro congratulated U.S. President-elect Jose Biden, becoming the last major Latin American leaders to do so.
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
4 years
The immigration judges who handle Otero detainee cases historically have granted asylum in just 12% of cases, according to @TRACReports .
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
4 months
What does the power to “close the border” mean? Friendly reminder that border communities are sewn together & 100s of 1000s of American families (& the economy) depend on open ports. Remembering the last time “the border closed”—
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
1 year
The #POTUS visit to #ElPaso is wrapping up. What did @POTUS learn/see at the border? 🧵👇🏽
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
5 years
Emma Gandara, 85, came to @Walmart on the day of its reopening to honor a friend she lost & reconnect w/ employees who know her by name. #ElPasoStrong @elpasotimes
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
1 year
#POTUS has landed in #ElPaso #Texas . A historic moment on the border. #lafrontera
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
1 year
Mexican president #AMLO swarmed by #migrants & activists calling for justice for 39 killed in a fire at a Juárez #immigration lock-up. See full coverage @elpasotimes @fotornelas
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
5 months
Trigger warning. This may be the hardest of all our stories on #migrant deaths. But medical investigator Laura Mae Williams is a #NewMexico treasure. She treats the deceased w/ care & dignity, no matter where they came from. #immigration w/ 📸 @fotornelas
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
4 years
In November, Honduran asylum seeker Elvis Guillen Zelaya said he had been detained 5 months by ICE without seeing a judge. “They are deporting people who have strong cases to present,” he told @elpasotimes . “It doesn’t matter to them.”
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
1 year
#ElPaso Mayor on emergency declaration: “We have hundreds & hundreds (of migrants) on the streets and that’s not the way we want to treat people.” #Title42 #immigration
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
8 months
#JournalismTwitter : Are you fascinated by the U.S.-Mexico border? Love to hear/speak 2 languages on the daily? Dig the Rio Grande & the mountains? The El Paso Times is looking for an editor! Our small newsroom does big things! Come work w/ us! 👇
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
9 months
Behind the numbers: In the time it took #BorderPatrol to get yesterday's press release approved reporting 134 deaths, two more bodies had been found in the desert, which is why we reported 136.
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
4 years
“The deportation officer is doing whatever she wants,” Yoenny told @elpasotimes . “The documents say I’m not a flight risk, but the deportation officer says something else verbally.”
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
4 years
UPDATE 2 p.m.: 23,282 El Pasoans have cast ballots on #ElectionDay2020 , according to the county Elections Department. That’s in addition to 222,149 ballots cast during early voting. HALF of #ElPaso registered voters have now voted.
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
4 years
Cuban asylum seeker Yoenny Reyes Ponce has been in ICE custody at Otero for 4 months & says he was promised parole by one agent only to see it taken away by another.
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
2 years
There is nothing more #ElPaso than belting Juan Gabriel’s #AmorEterno to remember those taken from us. 💔 #Walmart #Aug3 #MassShooting
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
3 years
$27 an hour to move dead bodies in #ElPaso . The county is hiring. Job is listed as physically & emotionally taxing. #COVID19
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
5 years
Another 291 migrants showed up last night in the #Bootheel , in freezing temperatures. They continue to arrive, seeking asylum, with stunning regularity, often on Tuesdays & Thursdays. 1/3
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
1 year
So much resilience in the streets of #ElPaso . Reporter @bnpereztv captures an amazing moment ♥️
@bnpereztv
Brianna N. Perez
1 year
Thought I’d share this video. During challenging times migrants sleeping on El Paso streets turn to music as refuge, and to express the tough journey that brought them here.
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
3 years
BREAKING: A franchisee of disaster clean-up company @SERVPRO took over youth care at #FortBliss "emergency intake" site for migrant children w/o corporate parent knowing. Sources say turmoil has contributed to allegedly "traumatizing" conditions.
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
1 year
Each day, in an abandoned building in #Juarez that they’ve made their home, #migrants wake early to try get an appointment to seek #asylum in the US. 📸 @fotornelas captures the waiting >>
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
4 years
Cuban asylum seeker Yasiel Lara Palma says he was assaulted & robbed in Juarez while waiting his turn to make an asylum claim at a port of entry. He crossed illegally & had been in ICE custody 7 months when @elpasotimes spoke with him
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
4 years
Hopes are wearing thin among #asylum seekers waiting in #Ju árez: Not a single applicant under #MPP has been granted asylum in the El Paso court this year. “I don’t want to keep waiting only for them to deport me,” a Honduran said. w/ @LambieMark
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
4 years
Sister Socorro Arenas, 48, originally from Puebla, Mexico, has lived in #Texas 20 years. “I have been thinking about what is best for El Paso & the United States,” she said. “I voted for #Biden .”
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
4 years
Yasiel has seen an immigration judge but new court dates keep getting postponed. “Every time I get a notification it gets pushed back,” he said. “I am really afraid because the judges here don’t approve many asylum cases.”
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
5 years
#Border reporting is a 24/7 job, heartbreaking & hard as hell at times. But it’s got its crazy up-sides like when... 1/5
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
3 years
Will we hear an announcement about reopening the US-Mexico border to everyday trade and travel? #borderlife #vidafronteriza
@SecMayorkas
Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas
3 years
I’ve just arrived in Mexico City for my first foreign trip as @DHSGov Secretary. I’m looking forward to a productive visit that will further strengthen the close partnership between our two nations.
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
3 years
#ElPaso is often called the 'Ellis Island of the Southwest.' Turns out, the city's Segundo Barrio is the ORIGINAL Ellis Island, a landing place for #immigrants before the iconic port in New York's harbor. ✏️from @MOrtizUribe
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
1 year
#ElPaso mayor foresees 4K-6K asylum seekers could be arriving at the city’s border per day after #Title42 ends on Tuesday night, up from about 2,500 people per day now. Emergency declaration will allow the city to open more shelter space quickly, he said.
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
3 years
Please keep in mind that as you crisscross the border, our Mexican colleagues who aren’t US citizens cannot cross, thanks to the ongoing border closure. You can go into #Mexico but they can’t come into the #US . We have immense privilege right now./2
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
3 years
If you come to #CdJuarez , please know that this city is a vibrant, culturally rich, industrial border city w/ thriving populations of working & middle class people. It can be “dusty” & “dangerous” — but that isn’t all it is./3
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
5 years
I've been covering the #Bootheel for years. Central American #migrants have been arriving for years, but not in the numbers seen in the past three months. When the latest group arrived, 4 agents were there to meet them. FOUR. The group included 50 unaccompanied minors.
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
1 year
Always SMH when I hear the term “unskilled labor” 👇
@UFWupdates
United Farm Workers
1 year
Can you believe it? These NY state farm workers were harvesting cabbages last week for 8 hours on a day that temps ranged between 28°-40°. They earn $10 a one ton bin. They say the rate hasn't gone up for more than 5 years. #WeFeedYou
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
2 years
Double rainbow starts in #ElPaso & ends in #CdJuarez 🌈🌦 #sundayvibes
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
2 years
Just a friendly reminder that the vast majority of illicit drugs are smuggled through formal ports of entry, in vehicles, not through this landscape.
@TxDPS
Texas DPS
2 years
Our work to secure the border under Gov. @GregAbbott_TX 's #OperationLoneStar often takes us to remote areas, where our people work to track//interdict criminal activity. Our goal is simple: DPS will continue to utilize all assets to combat the smuggling of people & drugs into TX.
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
3 years
When you are waiting in lines at ports of entry, please think of us who are at the mercy of border policies & practices every day. (Hi, I am 45 minutes into a bridge line right now! 🙏🏽)/5
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
1 year
The mayor of #ElPaso #Texas said he held off declaring a state of emergency until it became “a real emergency.” Said @GovAbbott ’s office has promised not to take action w/o consulting mayor first. #Title42
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
5 years
And there is no #BorderWall . Plenty of locals don't want one & would rather have a functioning road or two:
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
2 years
I field my share of threats & insults as most #journalists do, but rarely have I ever been compared to a Nazi propagandist and then invited to lunch. #JournalismTwitter
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
5 years
@DHSgov explained what happened from the time the girl & her father crossed & her death in El Paso. The story adds up if you know the terrain; but details remain fuzzy w/o hearing the father's perspective. Things aren't always what they seem out there:
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
3 years
The #border reopened overnight to Mexican tourists. Alicia Tagle & husband were among the first in line. They huggged & held their visas for the cameras. Follow @fotornelas @brie_san11 @elpasotimes for updates this morning!
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
5 years
Covering a #massshooting took an incredible amount of focus, time & strength for #journalists @elpasotimes . THANK YOU to the #newsrooms & folks nationwide that took care of us with breakfast, lunch, dinner & these amazing cookies>>
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
2 years
Doves will be released to memorialize the #ElPaso #Walmart mass shooting victims on the third anniversary of their murder 💔 @elpasotimes
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
5 years
The #Bootheel is gorgeous:
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
7 years
News, folks: I have left @ABQJournal & am about to start w/ a new #journalism nonprofit. More soon. Staying in #NM & the #border !
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
5 years
So, for those who don't know the #Bootheel , its three north-south mountain chains or its two north-south roads, the tiny #AntelopeWells port of entry or the #BorderPatrol forward operating base that is barely staffed, here are some stories by me & @rosalesquique
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
4 years
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@laurenvillagran
Lauren Villagran
1 year
BREAKING: Mexican officials say they are investigating who gave a possible "order" to keep #migrants detained behind bars even as a fire grew at a #Juarez migrant processing center.
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