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Reynaldo Leanos Jr.

Reynaldo Leanos Jr. is a freelance multimedia journalist living in New York City.

Reynaldo Leanos Jr. is a freelance multimedia journalist living in New York City. His work has been featured on PRI's Global Nation and The World, NPR's Latino USA, NBC Latino and KUT's Texas Standard. He is from the Rio Grande Valley of south Texas near the Mexico border, where he reported on immigration on the southern border and Latino culture.Reynaldo graduated from Texas State University in San Marcos, where he studied journalism and international studies.  He is now studying at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism and specializing in international reporting.

Woman in bandana leans over jars of green beans with permanent marker, writing on tops

Four months of food aid in Puerto Rico brought too much salt and sugar, say some recipients

Health

FEMA sent 57 million meals to Puerto Rico in the four months after Hurricane Maria. The Queer Kitchen Brigade sent just 400 jars of produce, but they are hoping to impact the kinds of food people in prolonged disaster relief can expect.

Man holding up ID card for medical school

DACA recipients won’t go back into the shadows quietly

Justice
Workers raise a fence in front of white kevlar tents

A private prison company with a troubled past looks to reopen an immigration detention facility in Texas

Justice
View from back of classroom, with backs of children and teacher in front

In the age of Trump, fewer lenders want to provide this med student with student loans

Business
Back of agent looking over river

This underground railroad took slaves to freedom in Mexico

Justice
Young man making art on a wall

A 19-year-old undocumented student — authorized to be in the US — was detained and then let go by federal agents

Justice

Josue Romero was arrested and put into the custody of federal immigration agents. He was held for 24 hours and then released — which raises serious questions for immigrants about what Trump’s policies actually are.

Front of building with sign for Prairieland Detention Center

In a small Texas town, a new private detention center for transgender migrants brings jobs — and concerns

Economics

In Texas, a new immigration detention facility will house only transgender migrants. The hitch is, the last time they tried this, the contract was not renewed because of abuses.

Man in suit standing next to school sign

Halfway through med school, undocumented students worry Trump will derail their progress

Education

The medical school at Loyola University is trying to keep its students in the program. Their skills, languages and cultural diversity are needed in health care, they say.

Gallegos

‘I don’t think that being of a certain ethnicity should decide who you’re going to [vote for]’

Election 2016

Angel Gallegos voted for Donald Trump in a heavily Latino and Democratic part of South Texas. For him, immigration wasn’t a top priority, rather the economy.

People sitting at a bar with a screen showing Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton above

Texas is now a swing state, but here’s why these voters are sticking with Trump

Election 2016

Members of the Hidalgo County Young Republicans know they’re in the minority in the Rio Grande Valley — but they think Donald Trump will be better for them on immigration and other issues.