Gustavo Arellano is a columnist for the Los Angeles Times, covering Southern California everything and a bunch of the West and beyond. He was a finalist for the 2025 Pulitzer Prize in Commentary and the Mike Royko Award for Commentary and Column Writing and was part of the team that won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize in Breaking News for reporting on a leaked audio recording that upended Los Angeles politics. Arellano previously worked at OC Weekly, where he was an investigative reporter for 15 years and editor for six, wrote a column called ¡Ask a Mexican! and is the author of “Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America.” He’s the child of two Mexican immigrants, one of whom came to this country in the trunk of a Chevy.
Latest From This Author
In Santa Ana, about 120 protesters gathered outside a federal building near City Hall on Monday afternoon, and emotions ran high.
Throwing cinder blocks at California Highway Patrol cars from a freeway overpass? Ripping out the pink tables and benches from Gloria Molina Grand Park? That’s supposed to keep immigrant families safe and defeat Trump?
Your morning catchup: Immigration raids, another small plane crash in San Diego and more big stories.
Your morning catch-up: L.A.’s free organ recitals, candidates for California governor face off and more big stories
Of course, Trump’s secretary of Defense wants the name of Harvey Milk, the murdered gay rights pioneer, stripped from a ship.
Who cares if the wreckage involves human lives, or the Constitution? The sloppiness is the point. The cruelty is the point.
Portions of a column I wrote a few years ago became mandatory reading for hundreds of thousands of high schoolers across the country.
In the annals of four-letter words and acronyms Donald Trump has long hitched his political fortunes on, the word “taco” may be easy to overlook.
Last February, I wrote about my visit to Frank del Olmo Elementary. I returned to the school’s career day last Wednesday.