María Luisa Paúl is a national immigration correspondent at USA TODAY. She covers immigration enforcement and its impacts on families, communities and institutions across the country.
Her work blends accountability reporting with narrative storytelling, examining both the systems that shape immigration policy and the people navigating their consequences.
Before joining USA TODAY, Paúl covered national breaking news and immigration for The Washington Post. She was part of the team whose coverage of the Trump administration's mass deportations campaign was named a 2026 Pulitzer Prize finalist for national reporting.
Paúl reports in Spanish, Portuguese and English, and has covered Latin America extensively, with particular expertise in Venezuela and its diaspora.
She graduated from the University of Notre Dame.
His uncle took him to an ICE check-in. The 8-year-old didn’t come home
Mississippi, Alaska Senate races drift toward the courts. What to know
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After outcry, Trump administration backs down on Afghan deportation flight
Voting machine snafus, polling place floods. Was there election interference?
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ICE officer who struck man with vehicle indicted for aggravated assault
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado returns home from exile
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After ICE shot him, a NYC man’s lawyers couldn’t find him for hours
'Get ICE out': Mamdani calls Trump after feds shoot man near child in NYC
Judge orders Trump administration extend processing of diversity visas
Renee Good’s family files lawsuits over her fatal shooting by ICE officer
Inside ICE’s plan to turn transport vans into 'mobile detention facilities'
Man killed in Michigan crash after ICE stop was not officers' target
Thousands won the green card lottery. Then the US stopped issuing visas
A green card lottery offered them a new life. Then Trump put it on hold
Lawyer says videos contradict account of Austin ICE shooting What we know about the Austin ICE shooting that left 1 person injured
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The United States keeps deporting its own citizensUS citizen deported for nearly 5 months
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