In collaboration with journalist Martin Markovits, the assistant professor of journalism traveled to Mexico in December to examine what immigrants face when attempting to gain asylum in the United States.
As 黑料不打烊 concluded its fall semester last year, Assistant Professor Alex Luchsinger traveled to Mexico to investigate what immigrants encounter while seeking asylum in the United States. His news coverage has received national distribution over the last week, appearing on NBC affiliates and their respective online platforms throughout the country, including large TV markets such as Boston, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth and New York.
The six-minute news segment, titled 鈥溾 highlights two female asylum seekers attempting to enter the U.S. and the additional hurdles they face because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In collaboration with fellow journalist Martin Markovits, Luchsinger spent four days in Mexico co-producing the package, gathering footage and conducting on-site interviews. Following their trip, the duo returned stateside and spent a few days in Los Angeles scripting and editing the piece.
Asylum policies have been a national story this week with President Joe Biden signing a Feb. 2 executive order that directs the Department of Homeland Security to review the Migrant Protection Protocols, or 鈥淩emain in Mexico鈥 policy. One of the most impactful asylum policies of the Trump administration, the program has kept more than 60,000 asylum seekers stuck in Mexican border towns for the better part of two years.
This precarious situation on the Mexico-United States border is what led Luchsinger and Markovits to pitch their news coverage idea to NBC, which commissioned the project.
鈥淭he problem is that 鈥榤igrant shelters鈥 don鈥檛 have much 鈥 if any 鈥 protections in place from COVID-19, and many parts of Mexico lack the infrastructure to get a handle on the pandemic and, many times, people are left with nowhere to go,鈥 Luchsinger said.
In addition to the commissioned NBC coverage, Luchsinger and Markovits 鈥 who have previously worked together in the U.S. and abroad 鈥撀爌roduced a second piece for , an international Turkish news organization with offices in the U.S. Markovits served as the segment鈥檚 correspondent, with the duo splitting writing, shooting and editing responsibilities.
In November, Luchsinger also provided news coverage of the U.S. presidential election for EuroNews, a France-based television news network.