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
Your morning catch-up: 20 years of Crunchwrap Supreme, tensions over immigration raids and more big stories.
For years in this columna, I have repeatedly posed a simple challenge to Archbishop José H.
Decades of studies have shown that mass deportations hurt the American labor force instead of help them. So there’s only one reason why Donald Trump keeps wanting to pursue them: terror.
The manhandling of California Sen. Alex Padilla and his subsequent depiction by conservatives as a modern-day Pancho Villa isn’t surprising one bit.
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.