Anna Giless

Originally from the U.S. – Mexico border region in southern New Mexico, Anna Giles is a rising senior at Syracuse University in Syracuse, N.Y., where she studies broadcast journalism and international relations. Anna is passionate about telling good stories and uncovering new information. Just before coming to Washington, Anna spent a month in the small coastal town of Great Yarmouth, England, where she documented the socioeconomic effects of a decline in tourism revenue through video, photos and written articles as part of a university honors project. Anna has interned with and worked for various news outlets throughout her college career – both local stations and national news services. This spring, she completed a production internship with CNY Central News in Syracuse, where she helped producers compile the daily rundown and wrote stories for the hour-long 5 p.m. newscast. Anna has worked with stations all the way from El Paso, Texas (KVIA-TV), to Charleston, Ill. (WEIU-TV), where her work centered on researching and pitching story ideas, interviewing newsmakers and writing and editing stories for air and for the web. Anna reports from D.C. this summer with some previous experience – she was a production intern with ABC news in spring 2013, where she had the opportunity to attend and help report on congressional hearings, events hosted at the White House, briefings at the State Department and major events such as the Boston Marathon bombings. Anna is also heavily involved with media at her university – reporting, anchoring, producing and writing for her campus station Citrus TV News, reporting for her campus newspaper The Daily Orange and writing local political stories for the online news service Democracywise. She founded, anchored and is the executive producer for the campus political talk show “Talking Points.” Anna’s passion is political reporting, but she enjoys the opportunity to cover any story and learn about different lifestyles. Outside of journalism, Anna studies security and diplomacy throughout the Middle East as part of her major in international events. She is a member of the Kappa Tau Alpha national honor society for journalism as well as Sigma Iota Rho – the national international relations honor society.

Lawmakers call for more transparency in port-of-entry funding

By Anna Giless | July 24, 2014

WASHINGTON – Texas needs more funding for its ports of entry. So does Michigan. Lawmakers from both states berated federal officials Wednesday for failing to improve the ports and for not even having a current list of which ports are on a list for funding. “The lack of transparency is troubling, to put it kindly,” Rep. Candice Miller, R-Mich., said during a House subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security hearing. “Customs and Border Patrol cannot continue to be a big black hole when it comes to ports of entry infrastructure needs, which can impact both trade facilitation and homeland security.”

Infrastructure needs at ports of entry often refers to CBP staffing, identification technology and roads.

U.S. struggles with influx of Central American children at Mexican border

By Anna Giless | June 19, 2014

WASHINGTON – A surge of unaccompanied children arriving from Central America at the U.S.-Mexico border will not be given legal status, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said this week. “I wish to make clear that those apprehended at our border are priorities for removal. They are priorities for enforcement of our immigration laws regardless of age,” Johnson said. Johnson held a press conference Thursday in which he laid out an 11 point plan to accommodate the children that includes a request for more temporary shelters and preliminary health screenings. As many as 60,000 children could arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border this year.