Seth Freed Wessler

Reporter

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Seth Freed Wessler was a reporter with ProPublica’s South unit who focused on immigration, the justice system and inequality.

He has reported on the U.S. Coast Guard and the crisis of unaccompanied minors at sea, threats to African American historic sites by developers and for-profit archaeology companies and the impossibly high bar for federal courts to correct alleged miscarriages of justice in state convictions.

Wessler has contributed to The New York Times Magazine, This American Life, Reveal/The Center for Investigative Reporting, the Smithsonian Magazine, Mother Jones and other publications. He was previously a fellow at Type Media Center, an enterprise reporter at NBC, a Soros Media Fellow and a visiting scholar at NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute.

Wessler’s first documentary film, an account of life inside a federal immigration facility, was broadcast on MSNBC and was shortlisted for an Oscar in 2022. His investigation into the U.S. Marshals Service’s detention system was a finalist for a 2020 National Magazine Award in reporting and won the Sigma Delta Chi Award for Magazine Investigative Reporting and the Deadline Club Award for Investigative Audio Reporting. He shared a Peabody Award in 2019 for an investigation into public spending on Confederate memorials and heritage groups across the South. His work has also been honored with the Hillman Prize, the John Bartlow Martin Award, an award from the National Association of Black Journalists, the John Jay/H.F. Guggenheim Award for Excellence in Criminal Justice Reporting and numerous other awards.

When a Florida Farmer-Legislator Turned Against Immigration, the Consequences Were Severe. But Not for Him.

For a lawmaker’s political career and his farm, a federal visa program was a lifeline. For a young father trying to meet his son’s mounting medical needs, that same lifeline failed him.

Developers Halt Louisiana Grain Elevator Project That Would Disrupt Black Historic Sites

The grain terminal was the subject of a May 2022 ProPublica investigation that revealed how a whistleblower’s findings had been buried.

Bused From Texas to Manhattan, an Immigrant Struggles to Find Shelter

Rogelio Ramon crossed the border into El Paso and found himself with no options except a bus to Manhattan. Once in New York, he was at the mercy of a system that struggles to shelter the hundreds of migrants who arrive in the city each day.

5 Takeaways From ProPublica’s Investigation of Coast Guard Detentions at Sea

Since the summer of 2021, the Coast Guard has detained surging numbers of people, including unaccompanied kids. Key findings from our investigation reveal the hidden world of immigration enforcement at sea, a border where different rules apply.

When the Coast Guard Intercepts Unaccompanied Kids

A Haitian boy arrived on Florida’s maritime border. His next five days detained at sea illuminate the crisis facing children traveling to the U.S. alone and the crews forced to send them back.

Federal Agency Rejects Developer’s Report That Massive Grain Elevator Won’t Harm Black Heritage Sites

For the second time, the Army Corps of Engineers has reprimanded a Louisiana developer for its failure to offer an adequate assessment of the impact that its $400 million project would have on neighboring Black communities and historic sites.

Developers Found Graves in the Virginia Woods. Authorities Then Helped Erase the Historic Black Cemetery.

The cemetery’s disappearance cleared the way for the expansion of a Microsoft data center, despite layers of federal and state regulations nominally intended to protect culturally significant sites.

Army Corps of Engineers to Order New Study of Grain Elevator That Could Harm Black Heritage Sites

Following our reporting, a federal agency says that a proposed grain elevator in Louisiana could harm a historic plantation and asks why a report was changed to minimize discussion of possible damage.

She Warned the Grain Elevator Would Disrupt Sacred Black History. They Deleted Her Findings.

A whistleblower says a plan to build a grain elevator on an old plantation would disrupt important historic sites, including possibly unmarked graves of enslaved people, and that her cultural resource management firm tried to bury her findings.

Eugene Clemons May Be Ineligible for the Death Penalty. A Rigid Clinton-Era Law Could Force Him to Be Executed Anyway.

His lawyers presented no defense at trial. Then a clerk’s office misplaced a plea for his civil rights behind a file cabinet. Now, it’s almost impossible for the federal courts to address the problems with his case.

Should a Mental Illness Mean You Lose Your Kid?

Mindi has never harmed her daughter and is capably raising a son, but authorities took her daughter under a concept sometimes called "predictive neglect."

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