Leslie Berestein Rojas Immigration and Emerging Communities Reporter
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Leslie Berestein Rojas is KPCC's Immigration and Emerging Communities Reporter.
An award-winning journalist with several years’ experience reporting on immigration issues, Berestein Rojas most recently covered immigration on the U.S.-Mexico border for the San Diego Union-Tribune. She has retraced the steps of migrants along desert smuggling trails, investigated immigrant detention contractors, and told the stories of families left behind in Mexico’s migrant-sending towns.
A native of Cuba raised in Los Angeles, Leslie has also written for Time, People, the Orange County Register and the Los Angeles Times. She has reported from Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean.
Stories by Leslie Berestein Rojas
Top 10 states with the fastest-growing immigrant populations
Source: Migration Policy Institute
Unlicensed immigrants to benefit from new LAPD car impound policy
The controversy over undocumented immigrants who drive without a license hit fever pitch in Los Angeles last week, after L.A. Police Chief Charlie Beck came out in favor of driver's licenses for these immigrants as a matter of public safety.
'Undocumented' (vs. 'illegal') at the Oscars
Might the use of the term "undocumented" during a speech at the Oscars on Sunday night signal a shift in how immigrants without permission to be in the U.S. are referred to?
In the news this morning: The Arizona primary, NYPD's Muslim surveillance an issue in mayoral race, harassment alleged in Alabama, more
As Arizonans Head to Polls for GOP Primary, Democrats Hope for Latino Backlash - ABC News Republicans needn't worry about the Latino vote in today's Arizona primary, since Latinos in the state tend to lean heavily Democratic.
Now that we're talking about race and sports, how about about those team names?
Now that "Linsanity" has sparked a discussion over the use of racially charged terms in professional sports, how about those team names?
After 'A Better Life': Readers' thoughts on immigrant labor
The Oscars have come and gone and Mexican actor Demián Bichir, who was nominated for his role as an undocumented immigrant in the film "A Better Life," didn't come away with a golden statuette.
Is prosecutorial discretion leading to fewer deportation cases?
Are the prosecutorial discretion guidelines issued by the Obama administration last year having an effect on the number of deportation cases that the administration is pursuing?
Driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants: Public safety necessity or privilege?
A post last week asking readers for their thoughts on whether driver's licenses should be granted to undocumented immigrants, as recently suggested by Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck, has made for a predictably lively discussion on the site.
In the news this morning: Dispute over deportation report, mix-up leaves man without citizenship, Brewer endorses Romney, more
ICE Calls New Deportation Report Flawed - NBC A new report from Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse shows a drop in deportation cases during the first quarter of fiscal year 2012; immigration officials say the calculation is inaccurate.
Driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants?
Readers were split over whether undocumented immigrants should be granted driver's licenses, as LAPD Chief Charlie Beck has suggested. What do you think?
An L.A. Latino kid's memories of Chinatown
A post earlier this week featured a photo of a restaurant wall in downtown Los Angeles' historic Chinatown, painted with an only-in-L.A. kind of message stating its claim to fame. And it prompted this reminiscence from reader and former Angeleno Miguel Corona:
Posts of the week: Race and Linsanity, finding 'Love, InshAllah,' carwasheros, a forgotten mass deportation, driver's licenses, more
It's been a week during which the racially-charged media coverage of Linsanity has exploded, and the chief of the Los Angeles Police Department has ruffled feathers by saying that undocumented immigrants should have driver's licenses.
The real 'A Better Life': A day laborer's take on the Oscar-nominated film
One of the films being considered for an Oscar in this Sunday's Academy Awards ceremony has an unlikely hero, an immigrant gardener working in Los Angeles. In “A Better Life,” Mexican actor Demián Bichir plays Carlos Galindo, an undocumented immigrant whose lack of legal status eventually thwarts the ambitions he has for himself and his teenage son.
How not to report on Jeremy Lin (hint: drop the racially charged language)
"Stop to think: Would a similar statement be made about an athlete who is Caucasian, African American, Latino or Native American?"
In the news this morning: Driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants, evangelicals and immigration, racial stereotypes on TV, more
LAPD Chief Beck expands on comments saying illegal immigrants should get driver's licenses - Southern California Public Radio Los Angeles Police Department chief Charlie Beck reiterated to reporters yesterday that he believes undocumented immigrants should qualify for provisional driver's licenses "as a way to keep other drivers and roads safe.
