All writers

Russell Contreras

www.axios.com
30
articles (90 days)

Recent articles

Trump's deportation push is rewiring American policing, ACLU report says
President Trump's deportation campaign has expanded far beyond ICE, turning federal agents, state troopers, local police and even wildlife officers into a massive 50,000-person internal enforcement...
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From KKK halls to slave auction sites, communities rethink historic sites
A former Ku Klux Klan hall in Texas is becoming an arts center — one of several racist landmarks across the U.S. that communities are trying to turn from symbols of terror into sites of reparation....
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Survey: Latino voters' political divide is becoming an identity divide
Data: Pew Research Center; Chart: Danielle Alberti/AxiosLatino voters aren't just splitting over President Trump. They're divided over how being Latino shapes their identity in America, according t...
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The hidden costs of low-tax states
Data: U.S. Census; Note: Data for Hawai'i and Alaska starts in 1955 and 1957, respectively; Chart: Erin Davis/Axios VisualAmerica's state governments now run on two very different tax engines: inco...
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America's missing middle: The shrinking 45-64 population
Data: U.S. Census Bureau Vintage 2025 population estimates; Chart: Russell Contreras/AxiosAmerica has a missing-middle problem — and this one is demographic.Why it matters: The shrinking 45-64 popu...
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America's child population is shrinking everywhere but the South
Data: U.S. Census Bureau Vintage 2025 population estimates; Chart: Russell Contreras/AxiosAmerica's child population fell by 1.8 million from 2020 to 2025 — with the under-18 population shrinking i...
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Juneteenth becomes America's quiet holiday as DEI goes underground
Juneteenth is surviving the corporate DEI backlash, even as American institutions pull back from the promises that helped elevate it.Why it matters: The holiday's staying power shows how Black hist...
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American pride has fallen off a cliff
Data: PRRI American Identity Survey, May 1-18, 2026, PRRI American Identity Report; Chart: Russell Contreras/AxiosA profound identity crisis has gripped America ahead of its 250th birthday: Citizen...
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Vance gives Catholic converts a bigger stage
Vice President JD Vance's memoir about his conversion to Catholicism, out Tuesday, puts a high-profile face on a small but distinctive slice of the U.S. Church.Why it matters: Parish reports have f...
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America's race categories face a stress test
The next great civil rights battle may be whether America's old racial categories can keep up with its future.Why it matters: The U.S. is heading toward a more Latino, Asian, Black immigrant and mu...
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White students now make up less than half of all Americans enrolled in school
Data: U.S. Census Bureau; Chart: Russell Contreras/AxiosWhite students now make up less than half of all Americans enrolled in school from nursery through graduate programs, according to an Axios a...
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America approaches 250 with its best days in doubt
Most Americans say the country's best days are behind it as the U.S. approaches its 250th birthday, even as they're personally hopeful about the future.Why it matters: A new Pew Research Center ana...
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AI is masking America's "post-literate" workforce
Millions of working Americans struggle to read at a functional level — and artificial intelligence may be helping hide it.Why it matters: Low literacy is quietly becoming a major economic drag, eve...
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The population crisis hiding in California's suburbs
Data: U.S. Census Bureau, Vintage 2025 Population Estimates; Chart: Russell Contreras/AxiosCalifornia is losing people from suburbs year after year, revealing a deeper demographic shift reshaping A...
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AI ignores religion when you need it most — and takes sides when you ask about switching
Data: Consortium for Evaluating Faith and Ethics in AI; Chart: Russell Contreras/AxiosArtificial intelligence models are quietly shaping spiritual advice — often by leaving faith out.Why it matters...
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New Texans, Latino doubts about Trump cloud Paxton's Senate bid
Texas has gained more than 2.5 million new residents since 2020 — roughly the entire population of New Mexico — reshaping the electorate and injecting new uncertainty into this year's marquee Senat...
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What the 10 fastest-shrinking cities say about America
Data: U.S. Census Bureau, Vintage 2025 Population Estimates; Chart: Russell Contreras/AxiosAs exurban cities near booming metro areas explode in growth, hundreds of U.S. communities are losing resi...
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Buyer's remorse hits Trump's Latino voters ahead of 2026 midterms
Data: UnidosUS/BSP Research/Shaw & Company; Chart: Sara Wise/AxiosOne-in-four Hispanic Trump voters saying they would not vote for him again if given the choice, according to a new UnidosUS pol...
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5 ways Pope Leo says AI could warp humanity
Pope Leo XIV is warning that the artificial intelligence race could become a new Tower of Babel — a dazzling human achievement that concentrates power, weakens truth and turns people into data poin...
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Campaigns pay the price for America's secular shift
America's fastest-growing religious group is also one of the hardest — and costliest — to reach: the "nones."Why it matters: Religiously unaffiliated Americans now make up a large and growing share...
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Neighborhood watch programs are fading in the age of Ring and Nextdoor
America's classic neighborhood watch programs are fading as AI-powered apps turn neighborhoods into digital watch zones.Why it matters: The automation of neighborhood safety with tools like Amazon'...
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A great exurban surge is reshaping America
Data: U.S. Census Bureau, Vintage 2025 Population Estimates; Chart: Russell Contreras/AxiosThe demographic landscape of the U.S. is undergoing a dramatic outward shift as growth shifts from cities ...
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Democrats eye "hidden" Latino battlegrounds in 2026
The post-2024 narrative that Latino voters shifted right is facing its first real stress test — including in districts Republicans thought were safely red.Why it matters: The biggest immediate test...
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Pope Leo sets Catholics on collision course with AI
Pope Leo XIV is expected to sign his first encyclical as soon as Friday, positioning artificial intelligence as the defining moral and labor challenge of a new industrial revolution.Why it matters:...
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Suburban poverty traps America's senior citizens
More older Americans are falling into poverty in suburbs built for middle-class stability.Why it matters: Suburbs lack the transit, housing and services that help cushion poverty in cities, leaving...
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America's pastor pipeline is collapsing
Fewer Americans want to become pastors, accelerating a leadership vacuum inside one of the country's oldest civic institutions.Why it matters: As the pastor role becomes lower-paid, higher-risk and...
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Violent crime rates plunge in America's big cities
Data: Major Cities Chiefs Association (MCCA); Chart: Russell Contreras/AxiosViolent crime fell sharply across the largest U.S. cities in early 2026, extending a nationwide decline that began after ...
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Poll: Even Trump voters reject his Jesus post
President Trump's own voters overwhelmingly rejected his social media post depicting himself as Jesus — a rare break in today's tribal politics, a new poll finds.Why it matters: The backlash unders...
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Assaults against U.S. Jews reach 46-year high
Data: Anti-Defamation League annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents; Chart: Russell Contreras/AxiosPhysical assaults against Jewish people in the U.S. last year reached the highest levels since 1979...
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A slow shift among Black voters is opening the door for Republicans
A generational and structural shift is decoupling Black identity from Democratic Party loyalty, transforming a once-reliable voting bloc into a cohort of "political free agents" that the GOP is uni...
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