Lam Thuy Vo

Ida B. Wells Fellow, 2021

Lam Thuy Vo is a reporter who digs into data to examine how systems and policies affect individuals. She’s explored how excessive ‘quality-of-life’ complaints led to the over-policing of minorities, how badly constructed algorithms helped spread hate-speech and warp our understanding of politics, and how changes in immigration enforcement drove immigrants into the arms of fraudulent lawyers. Previously, she’s led teams and/or reported for BuzzFeed News, The Wall Street Journal, Al Jazeera America and NPR’s Planet Money and told economic and political stories across the U.S. and throughout Asia. She’s currently a data journalist in residence at the Craig Newmark CUNY Graduate School of Journalism and will be investigating inequality and gentrification.

https://lamivo.com/

Highlights

Quantifying the I-Team opportunity gap

How having a yearlong fellowship helped me understand what it looks like when people want your story to succeed. Here’s a breakdown — and some hard numbers — on the cost of an investigation.

Porch piracy: are we overreacting to package thefts from doorsteps?

As we rely more and more on home delivery of purchases 13 states have passed or introduced laws to make the crime a felony

She Paid A Lawyer Thousands Of Dollars To Apply For A Green Card. Then She Got A Deportation Order.

Edith Duran fell victim to a common and effective fraud that plays off the hopes and fears of vulnerable undocumented immigrants: The “10-year law.”

Web scraping is a tool, not a crime

Web scraping is one of the most powerful tools journalists have to hold companies and governments accountable.

The Black Lives Matter Protests In New York City Have Slowed Down. The NYPD Hasn’t.

As people brace for postelection protests, BLM organizers say they are being harassed by a police force that has publicly backed Trump.

Voting Is Always A Nightmare For People Without Secure Housing. Thanks To The Pandemic, It Just Got Harder.

“When I was homeless it was more about my well-being and a place to live. And I wanted to stay alive.” Now this voter is excited to be counted.

They Played Dominoes Outside Their Apartment For Decades. Then The White People Moved In And Police Started Showing Up.

“This used to be a bad neighborhood.” Two areas of New York City that have recently gentrified have a corresponding high rate of quality-of-life complaints, which sometimes draw the police.