Giulia McDonnell Nieto del Rio

Giulia McDonnell Nieto del Rio is an immigration reporter for Documented, a nonprofit newsroom covering New York's immigrant population and the policies that affect them. She is in this current position through Report for America, a national service program that places emerging journalists at local newsrooms across the United States to report on under-covered issues. She is a native Spanish-speaker that focuses on immigration courts, detention, immigration detention and asylum seekers coming to New York City.

Prior to this, McDonnell Nieto del Rio was a national reporting fellow for The New York Times, writing about the COVID-19 pandemic’s effect on education, extreme weather, and more. Her additional experience in journalism includes working for CNN in New York and Washington D.C. She also reported on breaking news as an intern for her hometown paper, the Los Angeles Times. 

McDonnell Nieto del Rio earned a master’s degree from Columbia University - Graduate School of Journalism in 2019, focusing on social justice issues and immigration reporting. She also holds a bachelor’s degree from Williams College, where she majored in history.