Alan is a freelance writer who spent 20 years as a newspaper reporter, criss-crossing the globe to tell stories of the powerful and the powerless. For 14 years he worked at USA Today, where he covered politics in Washington, D.C., traveled to Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay to cover war and its aftermath, and documented the story of immigration from the U.S., the southern border, Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras and beyond. When the U.S. reestablished diplomatic relations with Cuba, he practically moved to the communist island to tell the complicated story of his family’s homeland. Along the way, he covered crime, courts, hurricanes, earthquakes, sports, and suicide squirrels.
Articles for USA TODAY
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Deaths and Profits From ICE Detention
Deaths in custody, sexual violence, hunger strikes: what USA TODAY uncovered inside immigration detention facilities across the U.S. and the massive profits private prison companies are making off those facilities.
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Systemic Racism Drives COVID-19 Deaths
“An unbelievable chain of oppression”: In a six-part series, USA TODAY investigated how racist policies of the past and present fueled higher rates of COVID-19 deaths in communities of color.
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Castro's Death Hits Home For My Family
To most Americans, Fidel Castro exists only in the abstract. But for the nearly 2 million Americans with Cuban roots, it's impossible to articulate how much he directly affected our lives.
TV Appearances
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MSNBC
A discussion with Rachel Maddow about a plan from the Obama White House to protect several million immigrants from deportation as Republicans sputter with rage and immigration activists press for more.
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PBS NewsHour
A discussion with Judy Woodruff about plans from the Trump White House to limit asylum into the U.S., which targeted migrants from Central America and elsewhere, angering human rights advocates.
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C-SPAN
Viewers call in to ask about the E-Verify program, which checks the immigration status of people applying for jobs to ensure that they’re in the country legally and are authorized to work in the U.S.
Radio Appearances
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NPR - Diane Rehm Show
A discussion with Diane Rehm about President Obama’s attempts to extend deportation protection to the parents of DREAMers, and the court battle that erupted over his plan.
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NPR - Here & Now
A talk with Jeremy Hobson about Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s struggles with Florida's diverse Latino community in the leadup to the 2020.
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NPR - The Takeaway
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is famous for its secrecy, but Alan Gomez lifts the veil from the Naval base and discusses Camp X-Ray, the heavy restrictions, the gift shop and the Irish pub.