Carnegie-Knight News21, a national reporting initiative headquartered at Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, launched its 2025 project – "Upheaval Across America," an examination of the second Trump administration's immigration policies and plans for mass deportations.
News21 journalists traveled to more than 30 cities in 10 states, and across the border into Mexico, to report from communities big and small. The journalists conducted extensive research for the project before arriving in Phoenix in May to begin a 10-week reporting fellowship.
The cohort included 21 journalists from 10 universities: Arizona State University, University of Colorado Boulder, University of Florida, Indiana University Bloomington, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University of North Texas, San Diego State University, St. Bonaventure University, Syracuse University and University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Three Huskers were selected for this year's cohort: senior broadcasting major Marissa Lindemann from Nevada, Iowa, and May 2025 graduates Ryan Luetkemeyer of Webster Groves, Missouri, and Meghan O'Brien of Fremont, Nebraska.
They tackled issues including the expansion of immigration detention, the termination of protected status for hundreds of thousands of people, the effect of enforcement policies on military service members, the administration's assault on sanctuary cities and much more.
Lindemann supported five of the project's stories with her photography, traveling to New York City, Newark, New Jersey and Arizona's San Rafael Valley. She also co-authored an article that examined how Arizonan conservationists protect wildlife amid border wall construction.
Luetkemeyer and O'Brien co-wrote and took photos for a story about farmers who are advocating for immigration reform and workers who are fighting for their survival.
Luetkemeyer went to Shoshone, Idaho, to talk with dairy and potato farmers, as well as the CEO of the Idaho Dairymen's Association, a nonprofit organization that works with other dairy leaders in support of immigration reform.
O'Brien traveled to California's Salinas Valley to interview a few of the region's 25,000 farmworkers who contribute to the state's production of more than three-quarters of the nation's fruits and nuts. She also connected with farmers and a spokesman for the United Farm Workers labor union about the confusion and worry of farmworkers across the state.
Throughout his campaign for a second term, President Donald Trump vowed to implement "the largest deportation operation in the history of our country" and take other measures aimed at immigrants in the U.S. On Inauguration Day, that campaign began. "Upheaval Across America" examines the vast ramifications of those policies.
"This was an incredibly difficult subject to report because of the profound fear immigrants and their families are experiencing right now," said Pauline Arrillaga, executive director of the Carnegie-Knight News21 program. "But our fellows persevered, and their work offers a fresh look at the many ways the administration's policies are affecting migrants, their families and American communities."
The final project – in text, photos, video and graphics – is available to media outlets for publication at no cost.
Core funding for the program is provided by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Individual fellows were supported by their universities as well as a variety of foundations, news outlets and philanthropic partners including the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, the Scripps Howard Foundation, The Arizona Republic/azcentral, Gray Television, NBCUniversal and more.
In past years, News21 fellows have taken on topics including the state of American democracy, the reversal of Roe v. Wade, police reform, COVID-19, extremist groups and juvenile justice.
That work has been recognized time and again in both professional and student contests. Content from last year's project, "Fractured," won three Telly Awards, a third-place honor in the National Headliner Awards and, for the second year in a row, News21 captured the Collaborative Journalism award in SPJ's Mark of Excellence Awards.
In 2024, News21 was recognized with two RFK Journalism Awards – including the prestigious Grand Prize, a rare honor for college journalists.
Students interested in learning more about News21 and future scholarship opportunities should visit https://news21.com/join-our-team/. Media organizations interested in potentially publishing the project or portions of it should reach out to Pauline Arrillaga at pauline.arrillaga@asu.edu. Click here to download content for publication and review terms of use.
