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Welcome to America. Now, Figure It Out.

After fleeing persecution and violence, and being detained for months or more, some people who win asylum say they’re released without a clue about where to sleep or what government benefits they are entitled to.

How Asylum Works — And Doesn’t Work

Follow the path of immigrants fleeing violence or persecution, and get a glimpse into the complicated, evolving system designed to grant them refuge in the United States.

How Overbuilt Levees Along the Upper Mississippi River Push Floods Onto Others

A new analysis of government data shows how levee districts that have raised their levees without federal permits would be better protected against future flooding, while those that follow the rules would see extra flooding.

What Happened to All the Jobs Trump Promised?

Since the election, President Trump has made 31 specific claims about companies adding or saving American jobs thanks to his intervention. We went back to see what’s become of those announcements.

One Night on a Private Garbage Truck in New York City

New York’s residential trash is hauled away by the city, but private companies collect trash thrown away by businesses. Every night, an army of private trucks zig-zag across the city, making hundreds of stops each.

How Harvey Hurt Houston, in 10 Maps

The city got two “100-year” storms in the two years before Harvey made landfall. All three storms flooded thousands of houses, many outside of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s flood plains.

Reporting Recipe: Investigating Your Police Department’s Handling of Hate Crime Reports

We found inconsistencies in how local law enforcement agencies across the country report hate crimes to the federal government. Here’s how you can use the data to report local stories.

What Does Facebook Consider Hate Speech?

Our analysis shows that Facebook’s content reviewers often make different calls on whether to allow or delete items with similar content. See the inconsistencies.

We’ve Updated Our Treatment Tracker

Our database now includes records from 2015. Look up your doctor and other providers in the Medicare Part B program.

These Are the Job Ads You Can’t See on Facebook If You’re Older

It is against the law to discriminate against workers older than 40 in hiring and recruitment. We found dozens of companies who bought Facebook ads aimed at recruiting workers within limited age ranges.

Lobbying Registration Database

It can seem like lobbyists run Washington from behind the scenes. But who they’re working for and what they’re lobbying on are not secrets. Use this database to keep an eye on what they’re up to.

Chicago Police Department Grievances

A Chicago Tribune-ProPublica Illinois investigation tracked more than 300 police disciplinary cases appealed through the department’s labor office. We analyzed changes between original discipline orders and what officers actually served.

How We Analyzed Commercial and Industrial Property Assessments in Chicago and Cook County

An in-depth analysis of hundreds of thousands of property tax records under Cook County Assessor Joseph Berrios.

Political Ads on Facebook

To make American campaigns more transparent, we’ve built a tool to display political ads that are rarely seen outside their selected audience of Facebook users.

Bombs in Your Backyard

The military spends more than a billion dollars a year to clean up sites its operations have contaminated with toxic waste and explosives. A full map of these sites — which exist in every state in the country, some near schools and residential neighborhoods — has never been made public; until now.

Here Are the White House Visitor Records the Trump Administration Didn’t Want You to See

The Trump White House tried to block public access to visitor logs of five federal offices working directly for the president even though they were subject to public disclosure through the Freedom of Information Act. A Washington-based transparency group successfully sued the administration to release the data and provided the documents to ProPublica.

This Is Where Hate Crimes Don’t Get Reported

FBI statistics on hate crimes remain frustratingly inadequate. Here are some of the jurisdictions where low or nonexistent reporting leave us with known unknowns.

How (Not) to Cross the Street in Jacksonville

The city’s population is 29 percent black, but black pedestrians received 55 percent of the pedestrian tickets issued from 2012 to July 2017. Looking at each type of ticket issued reveals even bigger disparities.

German Political Ads Collected From Facebook

During the German parliamentary elections in September, many Germans used ProPublica's Political Ad Collector to identify political advertising in their Facebook news feeds. This database provides a rare window into political ads on Facebook, which are not normally seen by the general public.

Everyone Knew Houston’s Reservoirs Would Flood — Except for the People Who Bought Homes Inside Them

Despite concerns about flooding in and around the Addicks and Barker reservoirs, government officials prioritized development.

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