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Emily Hamill

Independent journalist covering politics, immigration, institutions and accountability 

Based in Avignon, France. Available for assignments across Provence and Southern France. 

Selected Reporting

The Daily Californian •

UC Berkeley professor Kwabena Bediako under investigation for sexual harassment allegations

UC Berkeley associate professor of chemistry Kwabena Bediako is under investigation by campus following accusations of sexual harassment and discrimination from a graduate student, detailed in a widely circulated letter.The letter has amassed 786 signatures from science students, researchers and faculty from universities across the country, including UC Berkeley, Stanford University, Harvard University and Columbia University.“Getting into this program was one of the most exciting and important...
The Daily Californian •

Alameda County Sheriff’s Office to cut ties with undocumented inmate data sharing program

The Alameda County Sheriff’s Office is ending its participation in a federal program that pays local jails and prisons for sharing personal information about undocumented incarcerated immigrants with the government.The State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, or SCAAP, reimburses local jails and prisons for the costs of detaining undocumented immigrants with at least one felony or two misdemeanor convictions for violations of state or local law.Roberto Morales, the county sheriff office’s public...
The Daily Californian •

‘60 Minutes’ segment featuring UC Berkeley research into CECOT abruptly pulled from air

Hours before broadcast Dec. 21, a group of campus students and staff from the UC Berkeley Human Rights Center’s Investigations Lab were informed that CBS News was pulling a “60 Minutes” segment they were interviewed in that was slated to air that evening. The nearly 14-minute segment detailed the group’s research as part of its investigation into the detention conditions and treatment of U.S. migrants sent to CECOT, or the Center for Terorrism Confinement. CECOT is the largest prison in the Amer...
The Daily Californian •

Expanded federal travel ban leaves some international students in limbo

President Donald Trump’s administration announced Tuesday that it is expanding its original travel ban from earlier this year by adding 22 more countries, as well as the Palestinian Authority, to its list. Seven of those countries are facing full bans on entry into the U.S., while restrictions are being imposed on another 15. In an email sent out to all international students Wednesday, the Berkeley International Office, or BIO, detailed the new travel ban, titled “Restricting and Limiting the E...
The Daily Californian •

Protesters, armed police swarm UC Berkeley at turbulent Turning Point USA event

Update 11/13/2025: This article was updated to include details of the charges against protesters. Hundreds of protesters and police officers armed in riot gear clashed in a series of tense confrontations and arrests on UC Berkeley’s campus during Turning Point USA, or TPUSA’s, final stop of its national tour Monday night. Five individuals were arrested in relation to various altercations with police and protesters, in addition to four students who were arrested early Monday morning for an anti-T...
Capitol Weekly •

Rising Stars: Jose Barrera, California LULAC Foundation

Despite being just 30 years old, Jose Barrera sits atop the leadership ranks in LULAC, or the League of United Latin American Citizens, as the Chairmen of the California LULAC Foundation and National Vice President for the Far West Region. He is currently the youngest person and first DACA recipient to have held three leadership roles in LULAC.

Outside of volunteering for LULAC, he’s also worked as a political organizer since 2021 for SEIU-UHW, one of the largest unions of hospital workers in t...
The Daily Californian •

UC Berkeley researchers brace for impact amid federal government shutdown

On Tuesday evening, the federal government was ordered to shut down after Congress failed to pass a budget measure for the next fiscal year. As a result, many government services will be suspended, and hundreds of thousands of federal workers will be forced to go without pay, including those in research funding agencies such as the National Institute of Health and the National Science Foundation, which have awarded the university billions in grants.According to campus spokesperson Dan Mogulof, t...
Capitol Weekly •

Lawmakers and the hot ICE summer

The California Legislature has been on its annual summer recess, but the ongoing feud with President Donald Trump has not taken any time off. And while redistricting has taken center stage for the moment, when lawmakers return next week they will also have a full package of bills addressing interactions with the federal Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) to consider forwarding to Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The bills range from blocking ICE agents’ access to nonpublic areas of schools, ho...
EdSource •

Sacramento State’s Black Honors College aims to be ‘HBCU of the West’

It’s not every day that California State University students get a specific greeting from a U.S. president. But this year at CSU Sacramento, former President Barack Obama sent a message to the students of the new Black Honors College.

“As members of the inaugural class of this college, you have a special responsibility to lead by example,” Obama said in the video message, where he encouraged the first cohort of the country’s first Black Honors College to “make life better for folks no matter wh...
EdSource •

Berkeley, Oakland teens cast first votes in school board elections

While the upcoming presidential election crowds voters’ minds, a new demographic will be casting their ballots for the first time this November. Both the cities of Berkeley and Oakland announced in August that 16 and 17-year-old constituents are now eligible to vote in local school board races.

Berkeley voters approved Measure Y in 2016 by just over 70% of the vote. In Oakland, Measure QQ — which indicates similar youth voting stipulations as its Berkeley counterpart — was approved in 2020 with...
The Daily Californian •

Lights, camera, closed: California Theatre searches for solution

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States has lost over 2,000 movie theaters, with the rise of streaming services as a primary gravitational force. As a result, the movie theater industry now only has room for a select few cinema company giants — forcing local, independent movie theaters down the gutters of bankruptcy, closure and buyout from developers.A prime example is Kittredge Street’s historic, nearly century-old California Theatre, which shuttered in the early days of the pandemic —...

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