The following has been edited for clarity and length. Listen to/watch the full interview on the Interviewist YouTube channel.

Sarah: How are you involved with interviewing these days?

Mauricio: I'm now overseeing a team of three full-time reporters and four part-time reporters. I guide them in some of the questions that they ask, or they'll come up with questions, and I review them and make some suggestions on additional questions to ask. 

But I still from time to time, on rare exceptions will be reporting. I've done some reporting on the migrant shelters that were in Chicago from 2022 up until the end of last year. More recently, during Trump's inauguration, I was talking to some elected officials at every level of government. So we had Congress folks that I interviewed, local alderman, Cook County commissioners, and then folks impacted by some of the policies that have been carried out for Trump.

How you would describe your interviewing style or approach?

Every interview is different and depends on the type of story. For elected officials, I'm here to hold them accountable, so I'm asking questions about either their policies or the decisions that they make. So I try to keep it civil, but there have been some times where you just butt heads with elected officials, which you know, as a journalist, it's our job to ask difficult questions.

I never assume that they're going to want to talk to me because I'm a journalist. That's something that's earned. That's trust that's built. 

This reminds me of how Laura Bradley spoke about giving more leeway to people who aren’t interviewed every day to build up trust. 

Marginalized groups, especially on the Southwest Sides of Chicago—there's been a lot of damage that's been done by media. 

For me, some of the stories that I've done have been to rebuild some of that trust that has been lost. Maybe those stories aren't going to get all the clicks, and that's fine, but it's important to those communities. 

When I was at Block Club Chicago, I was covering the Day of the Dead procession, and this woman had this huge ofrenda altar honoring the lives of loved ones that had been lost. I ditched the procession and I stayed with her, and I talked with her for a good hour just to hear her story and what this means to her. It resonated with so many people because it touched on a piece of culture.

Those stories are so important to bridge these trust gaps that have been eroded over time because of how traditionally media has covered or not covered, or prioritized crime stories over these rich cultural stories that are right in your face. 

Borderless Magazine emphasizes ethical immigration reporting. How does that translate to your approach to interviewing?

Traditionally, you have a story about federal policy or your local municipalities’ immigration decisions, and it never really elevates the voice of immigrants. So for us, it's making sure that these stories include those voices, and include them in a way that’s not extractive.

When I say extractive, it's not, “Here, I need a quote from you,” and that's it. It's centering their voices and how their lives are impacted on a realistic level by federal policies.

One of the things that I really love about Borderless, is we do these “As Told Tos.” A reporter is paired with someone from the immigrant community and tries to get a sense of their migration journey. We have a series on black immigrants. We've done a lot of stories from Venezuelans who have come to Chicago.

Essentially, we interview them, and then we craft the story as they've told us, and then we take it back to them and make sure that it's accurate, it's fair, and it's reflective of the interview and their experience. 

It's a really good way to tell a nuanced story about immigration that's not so much focused on policy, but it does get at some of these policy decisions that have global implications. 

In marketing, usually it’s pretty clear who you need to talk to, right? ‘Talk to this SME to create this blog.’ But for you, interviewing is this tool that's doing a lot of things. It's building trust in communities. It's a storytelling tool. It's a way to center immigrants and stories. So how do you source for stories?

I'll go into an example. We got a tip about the migrant shelter…about inhumane conditions at the shelters. And after speaking with [the source of the tip], I was on the ground the next day, talking to as many migrants living at a shelter that since closed here in Chicago.

I say shelters but it was an industrial warehouse that was not equipped to handle over at one point, I think at its peak, it was close to 2,500 people living there. I was spending as much time—like in the evenings when folks were out or when it was a little bit warmer—to be a presence there. Just so that they could see me outside and about and talking.

I think just having that conversation, starting a conversation about what you're doing and what you're looking into, opened a lot of doors. I gave my card out and I wrote my number on it. And my phone was blowing up constantly with more people that wanted to talk. 

I think it’s fair to say that you’re a local journalist through and through. Is there anything you'd like to see more of interview-wise with local journalism? Or that you'd like to see less of?

A lot of what I've seen is reactions or a desire to be first. And I feel like that has, at least around immigration issues, created what fuels some of the fear and anxiety that I'm hearing from community members that we cover. 

For example, the week of Trump's inauguration, there were reports that ICE was at a school—or, you know, that was the rumor that was going around. I got the text and tried to confirm, how did you know this? And by who?… I don't know if ICE just didn't respond, the spokesperson didn't respond to any inquiries. But the story was out that ICE was there. Then it came out later that it wasn't ICE, and it was actually the Secret Service. 

I just think as an industry, we need to take a step back and try to wait until we have as clear a picture as possible, rather than rushing to be first.

And so I think taking a step back from that and also taking a step back from all these reaction stories. Because ultimately, what value does it add to understanding what's happening? By just gravitating to what people are feeling in moments of grief or moments of confusion, that's what I would love to see less of.

Any interviewing tips or advice?

The best question is the, “Is there anything else you'd like to say that I didn't ask?” or “Anything you'd like to add that I didn't ask that you think is pertinent or relevant to this conversation?” It always leads to some of the best responses, because at that point we've gone through these questions, and they're able to synthesize a lot of what they said into something more concise. That's one of the questions that I always have in my back pocket. 

Also, if folks have a chance to co-byline or co-report with someone… I've learned a lot by watching colleagues ask questions. I'm going to shout out to Hannah Alani and Mina Bloom at Block Club Chicago, former colleagues of mine. We would often be partnered together. And it was just interesting and nice to see the way other people do interviews. And it also helped me. 

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