Esmeralda Bermudez writes about immigration and the Latino community for The Oregonian. Her work has taken readers inside schools, prisons and local businesses, where new and old immigrants are vastly changing the Northwest landscape. In 2006, her vivid chronicle of a family that was separated and deported to Guatemala after living in Oregon 13 years was a finalist for the Livingston Award for International reporting. That work, along with other reporting from Mexico, earned her the Guillermo Martinez-Marquez Award for Latin American Reporting from the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, along with a series of other recognitions.

A native of El Salvador, Esmeralda grew up in the Los Angeles area and graduated from the University of Southern California.