Leila Miller named new Mexico City correspondent

The following announcement was sent on behalf of Foreign and National Editor Jeffrey Fleishman:

The Foreign Desk is pleased to announce that Leila Miller has been selected as our new Mexico City correspondent.

Miller started at The Times as an intern in 2017 and then came back as a Metpro fellow in 2018 after a yearlong role at PBS’ “Frontline.” After stints on the Foreign and Science desks, she settled in Metro. She was part of the team that was a 2020 Pulitzer finalist for its coverage of the Conception boat fire off the Channel Islands. Miller temporarily filled in as the LAPD reporter and then stayed on the criminal justice team, covering the Luz del Mundo sex abuse case, exploring gender identity in California’s prisons and investigating how families of prisoners were not always notified when their loved ones were hospitalized with the coronavirus. Her stories for The Times have taken her to Peru, where she wrote about Indigenous people seeking justice for forced sterilizations in the 1990s. She wrote a memorable story in 2020 about Jesus Tovar Sanchez, who spent 40 years building a life in the United States. He rose from dishwasher to owner of a radiator company. But when he died, he wanted to be buried in his native Mexico.

Miller graduated from Oberlin College with majors in Spanish literature and politics and from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. She grew up in Los Angeles but prefers Buenos Aires, where her mother’s family lives. She will join Patrick McDonnell and Kate Linthicum in our Mexico City bureau as The Times expands and strengthens its coverage in a region vital to the interests of Southern California.

Please join us in welcoming Miller, who starts in her new role Oct. 17.