I was born and raised in a small town near San Antonio, where my family has lived since it was a barren northern province of Mexico. I write often about growing up there.

I received degrees in philosophy and Mexican American Studies from UT Austin.

I am the Executive Director of Texas After Violence Project, a community-based archive and documentary project cultivating deeper understandings of the impacts of state violence on individuals, families, and communities. Occasionally I consult on a range of projects.

Prior to returning to TAVP in 2016, I worked as a capital post-conviction investigator for the Office of Capital and Forensic Writs, criminal justice research associate at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, and helped lead the Guantánamo Bay Oral History Project at the Columbia Center for Oral History Research.

In 2018, I was awarded the Pushcart Prize for nonfiction.

In 2023, I was the University of California Regents Fellow in Information Studies.

I live in Los Angeles with my partner, our two daughters, and two dogs.