Houston reporter Nomaan Merchant scored a 90-minute beat on a closely watched federal court ruling that ordered the release of children held with their parents in U.S. immigration jails during the pandemic. Merchant was tipped earlier in the day and had much of the story written ahead of the decision. He had set the stage earlier in the week with an unmatched story on families being isolated in Texas at the largest of three family detention centers run by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Immigrants seeking asylum eat in a cafeteria at the ICE South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, Aug. 23, 2019. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement hosted a media tour of the center that houses families who are pending disposition of their immigration cases.
AP Photo / Eric Gay