Tim Padgett
Americas EditorTim Padgett is the Americas Editor for WLRN, covering Latin America, the Caribbean and their key relationship with South Florida.
Padgett has reported on Latin America for more than 30 years — including for Newsweek as its Mexico City bureau chief and for Time as its Latin America and Miami bureau chief — from the end of Central America's civil wars to the normalization of U.S.-Cuba relations. He has interviewed more than 20 heads of state.
In 2005, Padgett received Columbia University’s Maria Moors Cabot Prize for his body of work in Latin America. In 2016 he won a national Edward R. Murrow award for the radio series "The Migration Maze," about the brutal causes of — and potential solutions to — Central American migration.
Padgett is an Indiana native and a graduate of Wabash College. He received a master's degree in journalism from Northwestern University's Medill School and studied in Caracas, Venezuela, at the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello. He has been an adult literacy volunteer and is a member of the Catholic poverty aid organization St. Vincent de Paul.
Contact Tim at tpadgett@wlrnnews.org
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While the new Everglades migrant detention center fends off complaints about its living conditions, some detainees claim guards are also doling out discipline for questioning rules — including standing in the hot Florida sun for extended periods. Officials deny the charge. -
COMMENTARY The gang burning of one of Haiti's most iconic landmarks is more brazen destruction not just of the country — but of Haitians' self-esteem, which President Trump has also assailed. -
The Trump administration insists conditions have improved enough in Honduras and Nicaragua to send migrants protected from deportation back to those countries — but those groups disagree and argue it's wrong to return them after so many years in the U.S. -
COMMENTARY By likening Trump's immigrant-demonization crusade to Lincoln's abolition of slavery, Miami U.S. Rep. María Elvira Salazar risks discrediting her own Lincolnesque immigration reform efforts. -
Demonstrators gathered at the entrance to the new Florida Everglades migrant detention center dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz" as President Trump made an opening-day visit to the controversial facility on Tuesday. "It’s just about creating fear, and it’s a bit sickening," said one protester. -
COMMENTARY When Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other U.S. leaders hurl partisan blame for political violence like Colombia's, it only encourages reckless responses to violence like Minnesota's. -
Violeta Chamorro, whose 1990 upset victory made her Nicaragua's first female president — and ushered peace into civil war-ravaged Central America — was laid to rest this week after dying in exile in Costa Rica at 95. -
Saturday's nationwide demonstrations against President Trump were largely about his alleged threats to democracy — but in communities like Miami, even Trump supporters decried his anti-immigrant crusade. -
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, currenty in hiding in her country, is touting a major economic reform plan as a roadmap for a post-Nicolás Maduro future — though it's still far from certain if or when the dictator will ever leave power. -
COMMENTARY A new poll shows most Americans back President Trump's immigration and deportation policies — which means protesters this weekend need to build, not burn, bridges to them. -
President Trump may have executive prerogative to end his predecessor's humanitarian parole for migrants, but the courts may rule that revoking it for current recipients is a breach of the U.S. government's word. -
Cuban-American Republicans, U.S. Rep. María Elvira Salazar and state Sen. Ileana Garcia, are openly criticizing President Trump's immigration policies.
