Daniel Parra is a reporter and an inaugural Ida B. Wells Society Investigative Reporting Fellow.

Learn more about Daniel in this Q&A.

Please describe your reporting project in less than 200 words.

I am currently investigating the challenges and inequities faced by undocumented students in the City University of New York.

What made you apply to this program?

I want to be a bilingual investigative journalist who serves communities that speak both English and Spanish in this country. As a bilingual journalist dedicated to serving immigrant communities, I’ve often felt the lack of investigative bilingual media in the country. Often, investigative pieces remain inaccessible to Spanish-speaking audiences.

What is the most impactful investigative reporting tool/trick you learned through this fellowship?

Realizing everything that can be done with data was one of the things that had the greatest impact on me.

Why was it important to pursue/publish this story idea and what impact do you see it having?

I haven’t seen many stories that specifically address the challenges faced by undocumented students at New York universities, so I hope this story will help shed light on that issue.

Why is investigative journalism important to you?

If democracy dies in darkness, I don’t want to imagine such darkness without investigative journalism.