As a young man, Ross migrated to Mexico in the late 1950s with his wife Norma and youngest daughter Dylan, living in Michoacán with his family from 1956 to 1962.

A prolific journalist, Ross wrote many articles for San Francisco periodical CounterPunch and Pacific News Service, and the Mexico City daily La Jornada.

Ross covered political corruption in Mexico and the United States, the effects of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), on Mexico's subsistence agriculture, and the Iraq War,[1][2][3][4] and potential environmental threats from the introduction of genetically modified plants— in particular those utilizing genetic use restriction technology.

His articles appeared in the San Francisco Bay Guardian,[5] The Nation,[6] CounterPunch, The Progressive, La Jornada, and The Rag Blog.

In early 2003 he traveled to Iraq as a freelance reporter, voluntarily serving as a "human shield" to help protect Iraqi civilians during the U.S.-led invasion.