Michael Rey and Oriana Zill de Granados produced the CBS News 60 Minutes two-part series “On the Border,” which explored the timeline and impact of the Trump Administration’s family separation policies on the US/Mexico border.
Customs and Border Protection actually did not keep a record of the children that they took from the parents once they separated the kids from the parents. They renamed the files so that there was no way to connect the care parents and the kids back together. And that was one of the most shocking things that we and other journalists were discovering as we dug into this.
- Oriana Zill de Granados, CBS News 60 Minutes producer and 2020 duPont-Columbia Award winner for “On the Border.”
In this episode of On Assignment, CBS News 60 Minutes producers Michael Rey and Oriana Zill de Granados go behind the scenes of their duPont-winning reports on the US-Mexico Border. They describe basement meetings, months of back-and-forth with government sources, and having a U.S. president criticize their reporting. They also talk about how they have adapted to producing television news remotely in the time of COID-19.
The two-part series “On the Border” tackled the issues of both family separation and an overwhelmed immigration system. One piece, hosted by Scott Pelley, focused on the Trump administration’s family separation policies. It combined groundbreaking reporting with human stories. 60 Minutes discovered documents that showed family separation began months before the administration claimed. The second part, hosted by Sharyn Alfonsi, took viewers to the border itself. She rode along with border patrol agents, witnessed immigrants being detained - some of whom were unaware they had even crossed the border - and visited detention centers where she spoke to overwhelmed staff.
At the 2020 duPont-Columbia Award ceremony, Michael and Oriana and the team behind “On the Border” were honored with a Silver Baton. Watch the full 2020 ceremony, here - “On the Border” was the first winner announced! Check out our Facebook page facebook.com/duPontColumbiaAwards for updates.