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
Posts of the week: Prosecutorial discretion, 'undocumented' at the Oscars, which immigrants live where, states with Arizona-style laws, more
The news this week has ranged from how a celebrity used the word "undocumented" during a speech at the Oscars to whether the Obama administration's new deportation guidelines are affecting the caseload in the nation's immigration courts.
American snapshot: Downtown L.A.
A banner on Broadway downtown speaks to the millions of Angelenos who during tax season each year don't file their impuestos, but "los taxes."
Does age affect how we perceive race? Study measures attitudes toward white, black children
Multi-American's sister blog DCentric in Washington, D.C. has featured a fascinating and somewhat unsettling study from the journal of Social and Psychology & Personality Science that measures differences in people's charitable attitudes toward white and black children.
Four of the top 10 states with biggest immigrant population growth now have Arizona-style laws
One post earlier this week mapped the top 10 states with the biggest foreign-born population growth since 1990; another post took a look at the states that since 2010 have enacted anti-illegal immigration laws.
In the news this morning: Alabama and Georgia laws await SB 1070's fate, gunboats to patrol Rio Grande, a mayor tries to stop S-Comm, more
Nation's Toughest Immigration Law Stays Put For Now - NPR A panel of federal judges in Atlanta has decided to put off deciding on lawsuits against state anti-illegal immigration laws in Georgia and Alabama until the U.
A database of state immigration laws, mapped
How many new state immigration-related laws have been approved in the last year? According to a new piece in Mother Jones, there been a total of 164 of these laws approved throughout the country since 2010.
What is a multiracial city? Southern California has a growing number of them
What is a multiracial city? According to researchers at the University of Southern California, these are cities that "have significant populations of at least two and as many as four major racial groups.
In the news this morning: State immigration battles in the South, Floyd Mayweather addresses Jeremy Lin comments, more
New round of immigration battles set in the South - Los Angeles Times Mississippi is considering its own state anti-illegal immigration crackdown bill, while a federal appeals court is set to consider whether similar bills in Alabama and Georgia pass constitutional muster.
Muslim refugees and new immigrants helping fuel new mosque growth
Immigration is one of the factors driving the growth in the number of U.S. mosques, according to a new report that tracks a 74 percent jump in the number of mosques over the last decade.
Which immigrants live where, mapped (Part 2)
A series of new maps from the Migration Policy Institute illustrates where immigrants from eight top sending countries tend to reside in the United States, highlighting the top states and cities they settle in.
Which immigrants live where, mapped (Part 1)
In a new series of maps based on 2010 census data, the Migration Policy Institute pinpoints just where it is that immigrants from specific nations call home. Only eight of the nation's largest immigrant groups are represented so far, but it's striking to see where they live today illustrated state by state, with the cities that are immigrant strongholds highlighted.
Making a case for 'unauthorized' immigrants
Now that the "illegal" vs. "undocumented" debate is back in the news this week following the Oscars, during which actress Natalie Portman said "undocumented" in her Best Actor presentation speech, the alternate term "unauthorized" is getting virtual ink as well.
In the news this morning: A more lenient LAPD impound policy, interior repatriations to Mexico, Alabama law heads to court, more
LAPD: New impound law shows 'compassion' for illegal immigrants - Los Angeles Times The Los Angeles Police Commission has approved a controversial plan to limit the way in which police impound the cars of unlicensed drivers, many of whom in the city are undocumented immigrants.
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.
