Richard Gonzales
Richard Gonzales is NPR's National Desk Correspondent based in San Francisco. Along with covering the daily news of region, Gonzales' reporting has included medical marijuana, gay marriage, drive-by shootings, Jerry Brown, Willie Brown, the U.S. Ninth Circuit, the California State Supreme Court and any other legal, political, or social development occurring in Northern California relevant to the rest of the country.
Gonzales joined NPR in May 1986. He covered the U.S. State Department during the Iran-Contra Affair and the fall of apartheid in South Africa. Four years later, he assumed the post of White House Correspondent and reported on the prelude to the Gulf War and President George W. Bush's unsuccessful re-election bid. Gonzales covered the U.S. Congress for NPR from 1993-94, focusing on NAFTA and immigration and welfare reform.
In September 1995, Gonzales moved to his current position after spending a year as a John S. Knight Fellow Journalism at Stanford University.
In 2009, Gonzales won the Broadcast Journalism Award from the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. He also received the PASS Award in 2004 and 2005 from the National Council on Crime and Delinquency for reports on California's juvenile and adult criminal justice systems.
Prior to NPR, Gonzales was a freelance producer at public television station KQED in San Francisco. From 1979 to 1985, he held positions as a reporter, producer, and later, public affairs director at KPFA, a radio station in Berkeley, CA.
Gonzales graduated from Harvard College with a bachelor's degree in psychology and social relations. He is a co-founder of Familias Unidas, a bi-lingual social services program in his hometown of Richmond, California.
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A federal judge ruled that the Pentagon provided no rationale for recruiting immigrants and then delaying their military service. -
An unauthorized immigrant and a state judge are in the middle of a controversy surrounding the presence of federal immigration agents in courthouses.
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The request comes as the overall size of the military force at the border will be cut from around 5,900 personnel to 4,000, Pentagon officials tell NPR. The deployment may be extended through January.
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A large decline in illegal immigration from Mexico means fewer unauthorized immigrants living in the U.S., and those already here are likely to be long-term residents, according to a new study. -
On Sunday, U.S. agents fired tear gas at migrants trying to cross into San Diego from Tijuana, Mexico. The migrants were protesting the slow pace with which the U.S. has been processing asylum claims. -
Searchers found no new remains on Tuesday. Officials had increased the toll Monday when a forensic lab determined that previous remains thought to be from two individuals were actually from three. -
As Trump cracks down on asylum-seekers, federal lawsuits argue that the administration is turning its back on legal precedent and international law. -
The people missing in Northern California's Camp Fire could be listed more than once, warns the sheriff, as calls and emails come in from friends and relatives. Seventy-one are known to have died. -
Several lanes of northbound traffic from Tijuana will be closed to install "port hardening infrastructure equipment." U.S. Customs and Border Protection says drivers should expect delays. -
At least 48 people have died in the Northern California blaze that burned through the town of Paradise with shocking speed.
