Immigration Reform: The Senate Way, The Obama Way

By Maria Hinojosa, Latino USA.

Two proposals for comprehensive immigration reform were released this week, from a bipartisan Senate committee and from President Obama. As we launch into political negotiations for more detailed plans, we ask: is this a breakthrough, or are we headed to another impasse as in previous years? We speak to New York Times reporter Julia Preston about the developing plans.

Julia Preston was a member of The New York Times staff that won the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for reporting on international affairs for its series that profiled the corrosive effects of drug corruption in Mexico. Ms. Preston came to The Times in July 1995 after working at the Washington Post for nine years as a foreign correspondent. She is a 1997 recipient of the Maria Moors Cabot Prize for distinguished coverage of Latin America and a 1994 winner of the Robert F. Kennedy Award for Humanitarian Journalism.

Born in Lake Forest, Ill., on May 29, 1951, Ms. Preston received a B.A. degree in Latin American Studies from Yale University in 1976. She speaks fluent Spanish and Portuguese. She has one daughter.

This article was first published in Latino USA.

For 25 years, Maria Hinojosa has helped tell America’s untold stories and brought to light unsung heroes in America and abroad. In April 2010, Hinojosa launched The Futuro Media Group with the mission to produce multi-platform, community-based journalism that respects and celebrates the cultural richness of the American Experience. She is the first Latina to anchor a Frontline report. “Lost in Detention” about deportation and immigration detention aired in October 2011 and sparked public engagement and conversation from Capitol Hill to mainstream media to the Spanish language media. Hinojosa interviewed dozens of notable Latinos for Timothy Greenfield-Sanders’ “The Latino List” which premiered on HBO in October 2011.