Seth Robbins, reporter in Central America since 2013, named AP's San Antonio correspondent

Seth Robbins, who has reported in Central America, Europe and the United States, has been named San Antonio correspondent for The Associated Press, covering central and south Texas.

The appointment was announced Tuesday by Maud Beelman, the AP's editor for Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. Robbins will join the Texas staff Jan. 5.

Robbins has been a freelance reporter in Honduras and El Salvador since 2013. Much of his reporting has focused on gangs and their impact on migrants fleeing across the U.S.-Mexico border.

Robbins also worked in Germany for Stars and Stripes, the U.S. military newspaper. There he created a beat focusing on the unique health problems facing service members injured in Iraq and Afghanistan. He previously spent three years as a crime reporter with The Daytona Beach News-Journal in Florida.

"Seth has shown great initiative and news judgment throughout his career. His reporting in Central America and on immigration issues makes him especially suited to this new challenge," Beelman said.

Robbins, 33, is a native of New York. He is a 2003 graduate of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.