
Photo courtesy Arizona Highways Magazine
Journalist, author and public speaker Terry Greene Sterling has covered Arizona for over 25 years. During her 14 years as an investigative reporter for Phoenix New Times, she was named Arizona Journalist of the Year three different times. Her work has appeared in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Rolling Stone, The National Journal, The Daily Beast, Newsweek, Salon.com and Arizona Highways, among other publications. Terry has been honored with more than 50 journalism awards.
Terry’s book, Illegal, Life and Death in Arizona’s Immigration War Zone, was published by Globe Pequot Press in 2010. The narrative nonfiction book takes readers into the secret world of undocumented immigrants in Phoenix. It has been used as a textbook at Goucher College, Arizona State University and Marshall University. You can buy the book here.
Terry is a guest faculty member for the Poynter Institute and Writer-in-Residence at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.
She tweets @tgsterling.





Hi,
I discovered you via Twitter and really appreciate your perspective and information you provide (plus great photos that make me homesick).
I am a Latina raised in Tucson and Michigan, and I really really appreciate having a white ally who clearly cares about what is happening to immigrants, esp. on the southwestern border.
As a Latina who grew up in the SW and married an Mexican national, I have experienced racism my whole life. To see a white person openly recognize it….that it exists and is wrong…well it is a balm to the wounds I endure and gives me hope that justice will prevail. I was so surprised to see the content of your site and the twitter posts that I actually had to do a double-take at first. Then I followed you!
Thank you.
i finally got the chance to sit down and read a good hunk of this blog, and not surprisingly, it’s TERRIFIC and IMPORTANT and HONEST. terry is an amazing writer and reporter — you are in good hands, readers!
I’m honored to know you.
Terry –
Really enjoyed your website. Interesting, insightful, well-done. Congrats.
I’m the Gulf Coast Correspondent for USA TODAY, based in New Orleans. I’ve written about immigration issues in the past and I’m interested in doing some more, particularly out of Arizona or Texas.
What would you say are the top issues or stories out there at the moment? Any other people I should connect with?
Feel free to contact me via email: rjervis@usatoday.com.
Thanks in advance. Hope to hear from you.
Rick Jervis
USA TODAY
Your writing is compelling, as usual. Is there a solution to the “drug wars” or “war on drugs”? In the final analysis, do politicians on either side of the border really care? The deaths just become statistics and have become meaningless to other than family members.
I saw the “hate” mail you got. I’ve received similar “comments” when I write blog entries that are not in line with something like S.B. 1070.
It is a battle, as I see it. Hatred v. Compassion. Which will prevail, I cannot say.
I say hatred because just about all anti-immigrant people I have met absolutely refuse to take into account the integral human component. Let’s hope Brewer vetoes.
Thank you so very much for your blog. As a Mesan I and my family are constantly astounded and embarrassed by our ignorant elected monkeys. (Did you catch Cecil Ash on Anderson Cooper?!) We continue to fight against their tyranny. Their absurdity is stunning! Keep speaking out and know our family in Mesa is continuing to do the same. Thanks again so much!