Alumni Spotlight: Justin Merriman
by Madison Jarnot
Alum and former member of The Insider Justin Merriman graduated from Pitt-Greensburg in 2000 with a Bachelor’s in English Writing, and his work as a freelance photojournalist has made an impact worldwide.
After photographing United Flight 93’s crash in Shanksville, Pa. on Sept. 11, 2001, Merriman traveled the world to cover the US War on Terror. He has worked in Iraq, Pakistan, and Afghanistan as well as Haiti, the Vatican, Cuba, and the Crimean Peninsula. He received the Alumnus of Distinction Award from Pitt-Greensburg in 2009 for his photojournalism.
Most recently, Merriman photographed immigrants and Customs and Border Protection officers at the U.S.-Mexico border.
A suspect is taken into custody at a coyote stash house in Edinburg, Texas. 
Ruben Garza Jr., a Supervisory Border Patrol Agent, comforts two children as a bus they were traveling on was searched at the checkpoint in Falfurrias, Texas. 
A Hidalgo County Deputy Constable stands near his cruiser with two female illegal immigrants during a raid on a suspected stash house just outside of Edinburg, Texas. 
An undocumented alien from El Salvador sits in the back of a police cruiser after being apprehended fleeing from police along Route 281 north of Edinburg, Texas. 
A grave for a undocumented migrant is marked with the name ‘John Doe’ and a small wooden cross in a section of Terrace Park Cemetery in Holtville, Ca. where unidentified migrants are buried. 
A 16-year-old illegal immigrant from El Salvador sits in a Border Patrol vehicle after being apprehended in McAllen, Texas. Once processed, she was transported to Virginia to be united with her mother. 
Ofelia Rivas, 59, walks along a vehicle barrier fence along the U.S.-Mexico border near her home in the village of Ali Chuk on the Tohono O’odham nation lands in Ariz. “We’ve been under siege,” she says, speaking of the Border Patrol presence and the fence that cuts through the reservation. 
Hidalgo County Deputy Constable Raul Salinas approaches suspected undocumented aliens during a raid on a home in Elsa, Texas. 
Dylan Terrazes of Santa Barbara, Calif., touches his grandmother’s fingers as she meets him for the first time at Freedom Park in Border Field State Park in Imperial Beach, Calif. Sitting at the end of the 1,933 miles of U.S. border with Mexico, the Border Patrol allows people to congregate on both side of the fence on weekends. The small holes in the fence leave little room for physical contact through the fence except for fingertips. Those who visit at the park say they give “pinkie kisses” though the fence. 
The U.S.-Mexico border fence runs out into the Pacific Ocean near Border Field State Park in Imperial Beach, Calif.
His photos have been featured in multiple national and international publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and TIME Magazine. He is a founding member of American Reportage, a collective of photojournalists that specialize in telling the story of the American experience.
He received the Photographer of the Year award from the News Photographer Association of Greater Pittsburgh four times and Distinguished Visual Award from the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association during the 2016 the Keystone Press Awards. He’s also earned a variety of awards from other organizations, such as the National Press Photographers Association, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Military Reporters and Editors Association, and the Western Pennsylvania Press Club.
Other works by Merriman are available on his website, his Twitter, and his Instagram.
He will be a panelist on “The First Casualty: Military Conflict, the Media and Public Opinion—WWII to Present Day” at Campana Chapel on Nov. 9 at 7 p.m. for Pitt-Greensburg Veterans’ Week. The event is free, but prior registration is required.
The Insider 
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