Perla Trevizo

Reporter, ProPublica/Texas Tribune investigative unit

Perla Trevizo is a Mexican-American reporter born in Ciudad Juárez and raised across the border in El Paso, Texas, where she began her journalism career. Trevizo spent more than 10 years covering immigration and border issues in Tennessee and Arizona before joining the Houston Chronicle as an environmental reporter. She has written from nearly a dozen countries, from African refugee camps to remote Guatemalan villages, with the goal of broadening readers’ understanding of the global issues that impact the local communities where she has worked. Her work has earned her national and state awards including the Dori J. Maynard Award for Diversity in Journalism, French-American Foundation Immigration Journalism Award, and a national Edward R. Murrow for a story done in collaboration with Arizona Public Media. She was also honored as the 2019 Arizona Journalist of the Year by the Arizona Newspaper Association. She is based in El Paso.

Latest Contributions

Justice Department is investigating Texas’ Operation Lone Star for alleged civil rights violations

By Perla Trevizo, The Texas Tribune and ProPublica July 6, 2022

Emails obtained by The Texas Tribune and ProPublica confirm that federal authorities are probing discrimination claims involving Gov. Greg Abbott’s multibillion-dollar border initiative. Full Story

Credit: Verónica G. Cárdenas for ProPublica/The Texas Tribune
Congress investigates portable generator manufacturers following carbon monoxide deaths in Texas and other states

By Mike Hixenbaugh, NBC News, and Perla Trevizo, The Texas Tribune and ProPublica June 29, 2022

Many generators on the market have not received potentially lifesaving safety upgrades. Citing an investigation by The Texas Tribune, ProPublica and NBC News after the February 2021 winter storm, a House committee wants to know why. Full Story

Credit: Laila Milevski/ProPublica
Settlement reached over private border wall, but experts say it won’t stop the environmental damage

By Perla Trevizo and Jeremy Schwartz, The Texas Tribune and ProPublica June 4, 2022

Federal authorities have reached a deal that gives builders of the privately funded fence control over where to inspect for damage and leeway over which issues they choose to repair. Full Story

Credit: James Hord for The Texas Tribune
Problems remain for We Build the Wall group after founder’s guilty plea

By Jeremy Schwartz and Perla Trevizo, The Texas Tribune and ProPublica May 2, 2022

Air Force veteran Brian Kolfage faces more than five years in prison after pleading guilty to defrauding donors to the private wall effort. Full Story

Credit: Devon Ravine/Northwest Florida Daily News via AP
Fact-checking Texas leaders’ claims about Operation Lone Star

By Perla Trevizo and Lomi Kriel, The Texas Tribune and ProPublica, Kengo Tsutsumi, ProPublica, and Andrew Rodriguez Calderón, The Marshall Project April 27, 2022

As reporters investigated Gov. Greg Abbott’s border initiative, they repeatedly found situations in which Abbott and Department of Public Safety officials cited accomplishments that lacked crucial context or did not match reality. Here are a few examples. Full Story

Credit: Photo Illustration by John Whitlock for ProPublica/Texas Tribune/The Marshall Project. Source images: Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Tribune; Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune, Jordan Vondehaar for The Texas Tribune
Texas has spent billions of dollars on border security. But what taxpayers got in return is a mystery.

By Lomi Kriel and Perla Trevizo, The Texas Tribune and ProPublica, and Andrew Rodriguez Calderón, The Marshall Project April 18, 2022

Since 2005, Texas Govs. Rick Perry and Greg Abbott have launched a multitude of widely publicized and costly border initiatives, which usually kicked off during their reelection campaigns or while they were considering bids for higher office. Full Story

Credit: Photo illustration by John Whitlock for The Texas Tribune/ProPublica/The Marshall Project
Gov. Greg Abbott brags about his border initiative. The evidence doesn’t back him up.

By Lomi Kriel and Perla Trevizo, The Texas Tribune and ProPublica, and Andrew Rodriguez Calderón and Keri Blakinger, The Marshall Project March 21, 2022

Arrests of U.S. citizens hundreds of miles from the border. Claiming drug busts from across the state. Changing statistics. The data that Texas leaders use to boast about Operation Lone Star raise more questions than answers. Full Story

Credit: Photo illustration by John Whitlock
Carbon monoxide killed a Texas mother and daughter. A firefighter was reprimanded after a delayed 911 response.

By Perla Trevizo and Lexi Churchill, The Texas Tribune and ProPublica, and Mike Hixenbaugh, NBC News March 4, 2022

After half of a Houston family was found dead from carbon monoxide poisoning, reporting by ProPublica, The Texas Tribune and NBC News revealed that a fire crew had failed to enter the house to check on them. A firefighter has now been disciplined. Full Story

Credit: Laila Milevski/ProPublica
U.S. plans new safety rules to crack down on carbon monoxide poisoning from portable generators

By Mike Hixenbaugh, NBC News, and Perla Trevizo and Lexi Churchill, The Texas Tribune and ProPublica Feb. 25, 2022

The announcement comes two months after an investigation by ProPublica, The Texas Tribune and NBC News detailed the deadly cost of the government’s failure to regulate portable generators. Full Story

Credit: Laila Milevski/ProPublica
Generators can cause deadly carbon monoxide poisoning. But the industry resists rules to make them safer.

By Lexi Churchill, Perla Trevizo and Ren Larson, The Texas Tribune and ProPublica, and Mike Hixenbaugh and Suzy Khimm, NBC News Dec. 17, 2021

Portable generators are among the deadliest consumer products. Two decades after the government identified the danger, and as climate change leads to more power outages, people are left vulnerable by a system that lets the industry regulate itself. Full Story

Credit: Laila Milevski/ProPublica