We examine the stories of two families separated at the U.S.-Mexico border and how what happened to them matches up with what the government said was supposed to happen.

Jim Briggs
Senior Sound Designer, Engineer and Composer
Jim Briggs III is the senior sound designer, engineer and composer for Reveal. He supervises post-production and composes original music for the public radio show and podcast. He also leads Reveal's efforts in composition for data sonification and live performances.
Prior to joining Reveal in 2014, Briggs mixed and recorded for clients such as WNYC Studios, NPR, the CBC and American Public Media. Credits include “Marketplace,” “Selected Shorts,” “Death, Sex & Money,” “The Longest Shortest Time,” NPR’s “Ask Me Another,” “Radiolab,” “Freakonomics Radio” and “Soundcheck.” He also was the sound re-recording mixer and sound editor for several PBS television documentaries, including “American Experience: Walt Whitman,” the 2012 Tea Party documentary "Town Hall" and “The Supreme Court” miniseries. His music credits include albums by R.E.M., Paul Simon and Kelly Clarkson.
Briggs' work with Reveal has been recognized with an Emmy Award (2016) and two Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards (2018, 2019). Previously, he was part of the team that won the Dart Award for Excellence in Coverage of Trauma for its work on WNYC’s hourlong documentary special “Living 9/11.” He has taught sound, radio and music production at The New School and Eugene Lang College and has a master's degree in media studies from The New School. Briggs is based in Reveal's Emeryville, California, office.
Never meet your (super) heroes
There’s a new battlefield in the culture wars: comic books. The alt-right now has gotten in the business, led by a buxom, Confederate flag-waving superhero named Rebel and a white vigilante who turns immigrants over to ICE.
The messy truth about victim compensation
Victim compensation funds are supposed to help victims of crime. African Americans are disproportionately hurt by how that money is handed out.
Flood thy neighbor
This week, we team up with ProPublica to investigate how rising waters have set off a race to build the highest levee.
Trapped: Abuse and neglect in private care
Deep in the backroads of central Florida, hidden between trees dripping with Spanish moss, sits the campus of an infamous center for the developmentally disabled. Its story shows what can happen when families have nowhere else to find care for their loved ones.
Poisoned, ignored and evicted: The perils of living with lead (rebroadcast)
The toxic water of Flint, Michigan, reminded us that lead is a persistent poison. Reveal investigates the lurking threat of lead from the dust of urba
Behind Trump’s energy dominance
President Donald Trump has pledged allegiance to what he calls America’s “energy dominance.” This is good news for the oil and gas industry.
Families splintered apart, by government and by storms
We continue our ongoing investigation into what happens to immigrant children after they’re detained by the U.S. government.
Hunting the ghost fleet
On this episode, we track an elusive fleet of shark-fishing boats that are implicated in overfishing and possible human trafficking.
Ripped apart: Families separated at the border
On this episode of Reveal, we untangle the Trump administration’s zero-tolerance immigration crackdown.