Ginger Thompson

Chief of Correspondents

Photo of Ginger Thompson

Ginger Thompson is ProPublica's chief of correspondents. A Pulitzer Prize winner, she previously spent 15 years at The New York Times as the Mexico City bureau chief and as an investigative reporter. Her work has exposed the consequences of Washington’s policies in Latin America, particularly policies involving immigration, political upheaval and the fight against drug cartels.

Thompson also served as a Latin America correspondent at The Baltimore Sun, where she co-wrote a series of stories about U.S. support for a secret Honduran military unit that kidnapped, tortured and murdered hundreds of suspected leftists; work that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. She also parachuted into breaking news events across the region, including Cuba, Haiti and Venezuela.

Her work has won the Maria Moors Cabot Prize, the Selden Ring Award for investigative reporting, an InterAmerican Press Association Award, and an Overseas Press Club Award. She was part of a team of national reporters at The Times that was awarded a 2000 Pulitzer Prize for the series “How Race is Lived in America.” She was also part of a team of reporters at ProPublica whose coverage of the Trump Administration’s Zero Tolerance policy won numerous other awards, including a Polk Award, a Peabody Award, a Tobenkin Prize, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for public service.

Thompson graduated from Purdue University, where she was managing editor of the campus newspaper, The Exponent. She earned a Master of Public Policy from George Washington University, with a focus on human rights law.

Watch the 6-Year-Old Salvadoran Girl Heard on a Secret Recording Out of a Border Patrol Detention Facility Finally Being Reunited With Her Mom

“I’ll be the happiest woman in the world,” said Jimena’s mother, Cindy Madrid, as she prepared for the moment. “It’s been very painful to be apart.”

La niña de 6 años escuchada en una grabación de audio de una instalación fronteriza sigue separada de su madre, que se esfuerza para criarla desde 1.000 millas de distancia

Jimena Madrid captó la atención internacional cuando su voz se escuchó en una grabación de audio después de que fue separada de su madre dentro de un centro de detención de la Patrulla Fronteriza. Tres semanas después, la reunificación sigue siendo incierta. “Ella siempre repite, ‘Mami, quiero estar contigo’”.

The 6-Year-Old Heard on Border Facility Audiotape Is Still Separated From Her Mother, Who Must Parent From 1,000 Miles Away

Jimena Madrid riveted people around the world when her voice was captured on an audiotape after she was separated from her mother inside a Border Patrol detention facility. Three weeks later, reunification remains uncertain. “She says over and over, ‘Mommy, I want to be with you.’”

Para una niña de seis años atrapada en el laberinto de inmigración, un número de teléfono memorizado se convierte en su salvavidas

Mientras el gobierno federal intenta reunir a las familias de migrantes, los niños tendrán la dura tarea de ayudar a identificar y ubicar a sus padres. La niña de seis años a quien se escuchaba en una grabación la semana pasada como pedía llamar a su tía tiene una ventaja.

Video: Separada de su madre en la frontera, una niña de seis años tiene que buscar su propio camino

Una mujer salvadoreña se convierte en la cuerda salvavidas de su familia cuando su hermana fue llevada a un centro de detención en Texas y su sobrina a un albergue en Arizona.

Video: Separated From Her Mother at the Border, a 6-Year-Old Has to Find Her Own Way

A Salvadoran woman becomes her family’s lifeline when her sister was taken to a detention facility in Texas and her niece to an Arizona shelter.

For a 6-Year-Old Snared in the Immigration Maze, a Memorized Phone Number Proves a Lifeline

As the U.S. attempts to reunite migrant families, children will bear the burden of helping to identify who and where their parents are. The 6-year-old girl heard asking to call her aunt on an audio recording from a detention facility this week has an advantage.

Escucha a los niños que acaban de ser separados de sus padres en la frontera

ProPublica ha obtenido una grabación en audio del interior de una instalación de la Patrulla Fronteriza en el que se escucha a los niños llorar mientras un agente bromea: “Aquí tenemos una orquesta”.

Listen to Children Who’ve Just Been Separated From Their Parents at the Border

ProPublica has obtained audio from inside a U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility, in which children can be heard wailing as an agent jokes, “We have an orchestra here.”

“The Making of a Massacre” Brings the Drug War Close

ProPublica and Audible have turned the gripping saga of a Mexican massacre touched off by U.S. drug agents into a multi-part audio documentary.

Top Lawmakers Call for Investigation of DEA-Led Unit in Mexico

Democratic leaders in the House and the Senate cited ProPublica’s reporting into the DEA’s role in two operations in Mexico that resulted in dozens, perhaps hundreds, of deaths.

DEA Operation Played Hidden Role in the Disappearance of Five Innocent Mexicans

The agency knew why the victims were kidnapped in 2010 by the Zetas drug cartel from a Holiday Inn in Mexico, but it did nothing to investigate or help. The victims’ friends and relatives now wonder why.

Un operativo de la DEA jugó un papel oculto en la desaparición de cinco mexicanos inocentes

La agencia sabía por qué las víctimas fueron secuestradas en 2010 por el cartel de la droga de los Zetas en un Holiday Inn en México, pero no hizo nada para investigar o ayudar. Ahora los amigos y familiares de las víctimas se preguntan por qué.

Chilling New Report Cites Greater Death Toll in Allende Massacre

Researchers cite a ProPublica and National Geographic investigation revealing the DEA’s involvement and call for answers from the United States.

Demócratas de alto nivel exigen investigación de operativos mortales liderados por la DEA

Legisladores citan una investigación de ProPublica y un informe del inspector general que detallan como equipos policiales extranjeros entrenados por la Administración Antidrogas de Estados Unidos (DEA) están ligados a las muertes de inocentes en México y Honduras.

Top Democrats Demand Inquiry Into Deadly DEA-Led Operations

Lawmakers cite a ProPublica investigation and an inspector general report that detail how teams of foreign police officers trained by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration were linked to innocent lives lost in Mexico and Honduras.

Who Holds the DEA Accountable When Its Missions Cost Lives?

In 2011, a DEA operation touched off a massacre in a Mexican town, yet the agency never investigated what went wrong.

¿Quién exige responsabilidades a la DEA cuando sus misiones cuestan vidas?

En 2011, un operativo de la DEA dio origen a una masacre en un pueblo mexicano, pero la agencia nunca investigó qué salió mal.

How the U.S. Triggered a Massacre in Mexico

The inside story of a cartel’s deadly assault on a Mexican town near the Texas border — and the U.S. drug operation that sparked it.

Anatomía De Una Masacre

La historia del asalto mortal a un pueblo mexicano cerca de la frontera con Texas. Y la operación antidrogas estadounidense que lo desencadenó.

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