Nicole Santa Cruz

Reporter

Nicole Santa Cruz is a reporter covering issues of inequality in the Southwest.

She joined ProPublica from the Los Angeles Times, where she spent nearly 12 years as a staff writer. As lead reporter on the Times’ Homicide Report, a groundbreaking public service project that documents every homicide victim in Los Angeles County, she reported on the lives of hundreds of people, highlighting neighborhoods that were disproportionately affected by violence and uncovering trends, including an increase in women being killed even as officials hailed a decline in murders. Santa Cruz also assembled a first-of-its-kind database of county prosecutor memos detailing fatal police encounters.

She began her career on the Times’ national desk, from which she was dispatched to the swamps of Louisiana to cover the BP oil spill and to her hometown of Tucson, Arizona, to write about the 2011 mass shooting at an event held by then-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

Santa Cruz’s work at ProPublica focuses on investigating the impact of inequities on marginalized communities. She is based in Phoenix.

[email protected]

U.S. Supreme Court Ruling Will Allow More Aggressive Homeless Encampment Removals

The court upheld a ban on camping in Grants Pass, Oregon, empowering local governments to punish people for living outside. ProPublica found that some cities are discarding homeless people’s property despite policies to preserve their belongings.

June 29, 6 a.m. EDT

Judge Lifts Order That Mandated Albuquerque Stop Throwing Away Homeless People’s Belongings

A district judge stood by his previous finding that the city has seized and destroyed personal property during its homeless encampment removals but said a pending Supreme Court ruling could make his order “unworkable.”

May 23, 5 a.m. EDT

Have You Experienced Homelessness? Do You Work With People Who Have? Tell Us About Encampment Removals.

We’re investigating what happens when local agencies remove homeless encampments and take belongings from the people living in them — an increasingly common practice across the country.

May 16, 5:05 a.m. EDT

Albuquerque Is Throwing Out the Belongings of Homeless People, Violating City Policy

The city has violated a court order and its own policies by discarding the personal property of thousands of homeless people, who have lost medications, birth certificates, IDs, treasured family photos and the ashes of loved ones.

May 16, 5 a.m. EDT

Utah Child Care Providers Are Struggling. Lawmakers Haven’t Helped.

Legislators ended their session without making a direct investment in child care. Instead, they loosened regulations on unlicensed care, a move that operators, parents and other advocates say is unsafe.

March 19, 5 a.m. EDT

Help ProPublica Reporters Investigate the Immigration System

We need your help to find productive ways to examine the country’s immigration system — what’s working and what isn’t. We especially want to hear from federal workers, attorneys, employers, labor advocates and ESL teachers.

March 7, 2:30 p.m. EST

Utah Bills Itself as “Family-Friendly” Even as Lawmakers Have Long Neglected Child Care

Federal relief had improved access to child care. But when funding expired, the state rejected proposals to replace it. Some advocates say the historical influence of the LDS church has added to the resistance.

Jan. 5, 5 a.m. EST

A Prominent Museum Obtained Items From a Massacre of Native Americans in 1895. The Survivors’ Descendants Want Them Back.

After the mass killing at Wounded Knee, the American Museum of Natural History received children’s toys taken from the site. A 1990 law was meant to “expeditiously return” such items to Native Americans, but descendants are still waiting.

Oct. 20, 2023, 5 a.m. EDT