It was a full house for El Paso native Jazmine Ulloa’s return home Monday, presenting her recently released book to an audience of about 200 at the Philanthropy Theatre in Downtown.

Now a national reporter for the New York Times, Ulloa talked about her book, “El Paso: Five Families and One Hundred Years of Blood, Migration, Race, and Memory,” as part of a Book Talk event by El Paso Matters and El Paso Community Foundation. El Paso Matters CEO Robert Moore moderated the discussion. 

“El Paso,” published earlier this month by Dutton, an imprint of Penguin Random House, traces more than a century of border history through the lives of five families, weaving together immigration, politics and the shared story of El Paso and neighboring Ciudad Juárez. 

READ MORE: Jazmine Ulloa’s new book puts El Paso at center of U.S. immigration story

Ulloa has described the project as an effort to capture “the complicated, layered story of a border community that has often been misunderstood from the outside.”

In reading a passage from the book Monday, Ulloa described El Paso as “a palace of rugged beauty, where from up above as you fly in, the sun reflects off glistening pools and rivulets, where after the blistering heat breaks, before the city lights glimmer, the brownness of the desert is cloaked in gold.”

After the discussion, Ulloa took questions from the audience for about 30 minutes and then participated in a book signing.

“As a nonprofit newsroom, creating space for conversations like this is central to our mission,” said Alyshea Johnson, development and events director at El Paso Matters. “What stood out wasn’t just the size of the crowd, but how El Paso showed up excited, energized and ready to engage deeply with the stories of our region. It was a room full of neighbors ready to be part of the conversation.”

El Paso Matters hosts Jazmine Ulloa, El Paso native and New York Times reporter, for a conversation on her new book, “El Paso: Five Families and One Hundred Years of Blood, Migration, Race, and Memory.” (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)El Paso Matters hosts Jazmine Ulloa, El Paso native and New York Times reporter, for a conversation on her new book, “El Paso: Five Families and One Hundred Years of Blood, Migration, Race, and Memory,” at the Philanthropy Theater on March 9, 2026. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)El Paso Matters CEO Robert Moore talks with author Jazmine Ulloa, an El Paso native and New York Times reporter, at the Philanthropy Theater on March 9, 2026. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)Author and New York Times reporter Jazmine Ulloa, El Paso native speaks about her new book, “El Paso: Five Families and One Hundred Years of Blood, Migration, Race, and Memory,” at Plaza Theater on March 9, 2026. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)Author Jazmine Ulloa speaks about her new book, “El Paso: Five Families and One Hundred Years of Blood, Migration, Race, and Memory,” March 9, 2026. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)Jazmine Ulloa, El Paso native and New York Times reporter, speaks about her new book, “El Paso: Five Families and One Hundred Years of Blood, Migration, Race, and Memory,” at the Philanthropy Theater on March 9, 2026. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)Jazmine Ulloa, El Paso native and New York Times reporter, speaks about her new book, “El Paso: Five Families and One Hundred Years of Blood, Migration, Race, and Memory,” at the Philanthropy Theater on March 9, 2026. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)Author Jazmine Ulloa credits her mother with teaching her the history and culture of Mexico alongside that of the United States, March 9, 2026. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)Jazmine Ulloa, El Paso native and New York Times reporter, speaks about her new book, “El Paso: Five Families and One Hundred Years of Blood, Migration, Race, and Memory,” at the Philanthropy Theater on March 9, 2026. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)Jazmine Ulloa, El Paso native and New York Times reporter, speaks about her new book, “El Paso: Five Families and One Hundred Years of Blood, Migration, Race, and Memory,” at Plaza Theater on March 9, 2026. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)El Paso Matters founder and CEO Robert Moore discusses past and present El Paso with Jazmine Ulloa, El Paso native and New York Times reporter, at Plaza Theater on March 9, 2026. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)El Paso Matters hosts Jazmine Ulloa, El Paso native and New York Times reporter, for a conversation on her new book, “El Paso: Five Families and One Hundred Years of Blood, Migration, Race, and Memory,” at Plaza Theater on March 9, 2026. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)El Paso Matters hosts Jazmine Ulloa, El Paso native and New York Times reporter, for a conversation on her new book, “El Paso: Five Families and One Hundred Years of Blood, Migration, Race, and Memory,” at Plaza Theater on March 9, 2026. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)Jazmine Ulloa, El Paso native and New York Times reporter, speaks about her new book, “El Paso: Five Families and One Hundred Years of Blood, Migration, Race, and Memory,” at Plaza Theater on March 9, 2026. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)Jazmine Ulloa, El Paso native and New York Times reporter, speaks about her new book, “El Paso: Five Families and One Hundred Years of Blood, Migration, Race, and Memory,” at Plaza Theater on March 9, 2026. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)Jazmine Ulloa, El Paso native, New York Times reporter and author of “El Paso: Five Families and One Hundred Years of Blood, Migration, Race, and Memory,” signs a book for a fan at the Plaza Theater, March 9, 2026. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)Jazmine Ulloa, El Paso native, New York Times reporter and author of “El Paso: Five Families and One Hundred Years of Blood, Migration, Race, and Memory,” signs a book for a fan at the Plaza Theater, March 9, 2026. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)Jazmine Ulloa, El Paso native, New York Times reporter and author of “El Paso: Five Families and One Hundred Years of Blood, Migration, Race, and Memory,” signs a book for a fan at the Plaza Theater, March 9, 2026. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)“El Paso: Five Families and One Hundred Years of Blood, Migration, Race, and Memory,” by El Paso native and New York Times reporter Jazmine Ulloa, places El Paso at the center of the American story, March 9, 2026. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)Jazmine Ulloa, El Paso native, New York Times reporter and author of “El Paso: Five Families and One Hundred Years of Blood, Migration, Race, and Memory,” signs a book for a fan at the Plaza Theater, March 9, 2026. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)
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