Mexico City reporter María Verza and Eduardo Castillo, director of Spanish services, used public records requests and persistent reporting to scoop the competition on Mexico’s diversion, under U.S. pressure, of more than $4 million from a regional development fund meant to address the root causes of migration. The money was instead used to bus asylum seekers away from the U.S. border and renovate immigration detention centers. Former government officials and experts reacted to the story with harsh criticism of the administration of President Andrés Manual López Obrador.