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Julia Barajas
What I cover
I strive to bring nuance and context to the issue of immigration, which is often cast as a competition for limited resources or a concern for public safety.
Beholden to no political party, I document the impact of federal immigration policy on Southern California communities—including U.S. citizens of color—while holding our government accountable. My coverage centers human suffering and resilience, with an emphasis on how communities are taking collective action in response to this evolving landscape.
My background
I’ve covered a broad range of issues for English and Spanish-language news media—everything from environmental injustice to the arts. Most recently, I was LAist’s higher education reporter. My work has been recognized by the California News Publishers Association, the Los Angeles Press Club, the Press Club of Atlantic City, and the Society for Features Journalism.
My goals
I pledge to reflect SoCal’s economic, ethnic, racial, and linguistic diversity in my reporting. This means making it a point to include people who speak Armenian, Arabic, Farsi, Khmer, Korean, Japanese, Mandarin, Spanish, Tagalog, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, Zapotec, and all the other beautiful languages in the place we call home—while acknowledging that Tongva is the first language of this land.
How to contact me
If you or your community have been affected by federal immigration policy, I want to know about it. Also, if you have ideas about stories I should be covering, I welcome your thoughts. You can reach out by email. I'm at jbarajas@laist.com. Or, if you have a tip you’d like to share more privately, you can reach me on Signal. My username is @jbarajas.68.
Stories by Julia Barajas
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Families have voiced concerns about how their personal data might be used under a second Trump administration.
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The U.S. Department of Education expects to get 1 million financial aid applications from students across the country by Tuesday.
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Holiday fare like Home Alone and Elf are on the menu for most major U.S. airlines.
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Record layoffs. The threat of AI. A free fall in public trust. All around, journalism is crumbling. And yet, at Santa Ana College, these students and educators are keeping the faith.
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Financial aid experts have workshops for students and families in need of help.
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Brandi O’Kelley, who runs the system’s social media, uses humor to draw more readers.
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Folt was brought on in 2019 to usher in "a new era" following a series of high-profile scandals.
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The president-elect has pledged to carry out mass deportations.
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Four of the seven seats on the Los Angeles Community College District board are on the ballot.
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Muchos titulares van a pedir que los electores les confían a través de la crisis.
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A collaboration devised as part of Getty's PST ART taught students about environmental issues from the perspective of communities across the Americas.
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Advocates say barring formerly incarcerated students can keep them from securing gainful employment.
