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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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Beong-Soo Kim has served as interim president since this past summer.
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The annual Pasadena Rose Parade took place less than a month ago, but it's already time to prep for 2027.
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Los Angeles joins Minneapolis for a walkout at some schools and workplaces to protest immigration enforcement operations.
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Transitional kindergarten is forcing a change in the way elementary schools operate in California.
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Students fear that budget reductions at the federal level could threaten their professional futures.
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Federal funding cuts and immigration policy were two significant issues among many that local educators navigated in 2025.
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L.A. Community College District launched a guaranteed basic income program in 2024. LAist checked in to see how students are doing and what they’re planning for the future.
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Members of Teamsters Local 2010 say the university system is backtracking on a previous salary agreement
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Education researchers say happier teachers are more likely to stay and that stability can be good for long-term learning outcomes.
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Cal State Dominguez Hills students, faculty rally to save 6 'essential' programs from chopping blockIf approved, the plan also would cut an estimated 40 jobs.
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Some teachers are making the switch from private preschools to transitional kindergarten. Others come from upper grades. Many are needed.
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Professor Terence Keel teaches students to examine autopsy reports and death records — and to think critically about how in-custody deaths affect families and society.
