Gustavo Sagrero Álvarez
Race, Identity, and Immigration Reporter
About
Gustavo covers race, identity, and immigration in the Pacific Northwest. His reporting is focused on tribal sovereignty, how a diversity of communities leverage their power to effect change in and beyond their neighborhoods, and the impacts of immigration policy at the state level.
He arrived to KUOW in 2023, and previously wrote about northern Nevada's tribal efforts during mid-term elections, addressing the legacy of state-funded boarding schools and the impacts of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples' epidemic. He's also written about healthcare access for undocumented Idaho farmworkers during the pandemic and Juneteenth celebrations in Idaho.
Gustavo was born and raised in the sagebrush of Boise, Idaho. He spent many years trying to get into a career in journalism, juggling work, school, and community radio before settling into the restaurant industry for eight years. He was able to work in award-winning kitchens before the pandemic threw him back into journalism. In his off time he takes documentary photography, participates in the Purépecha community, and dreams of pit barbecuing and carnitas.
Location: Seattle
Languages: English, Spanish
Pronouns: he/him
Professional Affiliations: Founding Board Member, Voces
Stories
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Mysterious notice tells immigrants to check in at Seattle-area federal building. Several get detained
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ICE deportations leave empty seats at graduation ceremonies in Washington state
More than 140,000 people were deported from the U.S. in President Donald Trump’s first three months in office. Many of those people left behind teenagers who are now graduating from high school without their parents in the audience to cheer them on and celebrate their accomplishment.
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Washington state exploring options to fight Trump's travel ban
Washington state Attorney General Nick Brown said his office is taking a careful look at the Trump administration’s new travel ban and considering whether the state has a legal basis to challenge it.
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Why a Vietnamese man was deported to South Sudan
Last month Pierce County resident Tuan Thanh Phan was deported. He wasn’t going to Vietnam, his birth country. Instead, he ended up on a flight to South Sudan. That was redirected to Djibouti.
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A Pierce County man expected to be deported to Vietnam. Instead, ICE routed him to South Sudan
His deportation is part of the Trump administration’s efforts to deport immigrants to “third countries" — places other than the immigrants’ country of origin.
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Agentes de ICE esperan en los pasillos del juzgado de Seattle a las personas que vienen a sus audiencias
Esta semana, las personas que acuden a las audiencias en el Tribunal de Inmigración de Seattle se enfrentan a algo nuevo. Agentes federales de inmigración esperan en los pasillos del tribunal para arrestar a quienes el juez les rechaza su procedimiento de deportación.
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ICE agents at Seattle courthouse arrest people whose deportation hearings are dismissed
People showing up for hearings at the Seattle Immigration Court this week are facing something new. Federal immigration agents wait in the courthouse hallways to arrest people if their deportation proceedings are dismissed by a judge.
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A fight between romantic rivals in Washington state results in ICE arrests
The love triangle set off big emotions — and a series of events that would end with a man and his brother in immigration jail, and possibly headed to El Salvador's notorious Terrorism Confinement Center.
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Union farmworker organizer ‘Lelo’ denied bond to leave Tacoma ICE lockup
A prominent Washington farmworker union organizer arrested by ICE earlier this year, will remain detained in the Tacoma ICE facility after being denied release Thursday. The attorney for Alfredo “Lelo” Juarez Zeferino said he plans to keep pushing to get him out.
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Spokane man arrested by ICE spent more than a decade trying to obtain legal status
As the number of ICE arrests across Washington state increases, more people are documenting their encounters with federal agents, leaving friends and family stunned, people in federal custody unsure about their future, and others in their community fearful of future raids and arrests.