Tim Padgett
Americas EditorTim Padgett is the Americas Editor for WLRN, covering Latin America, the Caribbean and their key relationship with South Florida.
Padgett has reported on Latin America for more than 30 years — including for Newsweek as its Mexico City bureau chief and for Time as its Latin America and Miami bureau chief — from the end of Central America's civil wars to the normalization of U.S.-Cuba relations. He has interviewed more than 20 heads of state.
In 2005, Padgett received Columbia University’s Maria Moors Cabot Prize for his body of work in Latin America. In 2016 he won a national Edward R. Murrow award for the radio series "The Migration Maze," about the brutal causes of — and potential solutions to — Central American migration.
Padgett is an Indiana native and a graduate of Wabash College. He received a master's degree in journalism from Northwestern University's Medill School and studied in Caracas, Venezuela, at the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello. He has been an adult literacy volunteer and is a member of the Catholic poverty aid organization St. Vincent de Paul.
Contact Tim at tpadgett@wlrnnews.org
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After Donald Trump's historic Republican performance with Latino voters in last November's presidential election, two new polls find him in a deep hole with that swing bloc just 100 days into his second presidency. -
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier is giving law enforcement a green light to continue arresting migrants under a new state law even though a federal judge has forbidden it. -
COMMENTARY As the first pope from Latin America, Francis will be lauded for urging compassion for the region's immigrants — but also questioned about how effectively he helped reduce their numbers. -
Because the Argentine pontiff, who died Monday, championed the marginalized — including migrants — he helped galvanize Catholic and other charity ministries here like St. Vincent de Paul. -
In South Florida and around the U.S., migrants on legal programs like TPS and humanitarian parole feel trapped between the hope of recent court rulings protecting their status — and the reality of President Trump's determination to expel them. -
COMMENTARY The tradition of preaching Christianity while practicing cruelty saw a resurrection this Holy Week when the U.S. and Salvadoran presidents doubled down on Kilmar Abrego Garcia. -
Josue Aguilar came to South Florida as a minor fleeing gang violence in Honduras. Now he faces deportation despite his marriage to a U.S. citizen, their toddler son, a good taxpaying job and a clean criminal record after being taken from his immigration hearing to the notorious Krome Detention Center. -
While visiting Panama this week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth did not mention President Trump's pledge to take back the Panama Canal. Was it just a ploy to make Panama resolve to get tougher on China? -
COMMENTARY Costa Rica is a longstanding democratic model in the hemisphere — but is its controversial president poised to adopt the dictatorial methods of the new autocratic model, El Salvador? -
Democratic U.S. Representatives have sent an angry letter to the Trump administration demanding restored oversight of the controversial Krome detention center for migrants.
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Except for Guyana — which got hit with a 38% duty — Latin America and the Caribbean were relatively unscathed by President Trump's global tariff hikes. Still, experts see significant effects there and here, especially in South Florida tourism. -
UPDATE: COMMENTARY In Guyana, the Trump administration finally offered hemispheric partnership instead of extortion — and rattled China. President Trump just trashed that vibe with a harsh, dubious tariff.
