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
Question for the weekend: What part of 'Mexico' was the South Carolina debate crowd booing?
It's been a few days now, so those of you who saw Monday's Fox News GOP presidential debate in South Carolina have had time to mull this one over. What do you think the crowd was booing when moderator Juan Williams addressed candidate Mitt Romney's Mexican roots?
Mixed feelings about deportation reviews, even from 'low priority' immigrants
Almost six months ago, the Obama administration announced a shift in its deportation policy, with Homeland Security officials promising to review some 300,000 deportation cases. The plan was to weed out immigrants deemed a low priority for deportation, allowing officials to focus on removing those with criminal records.
American snapshot: East Los Angeles
Photographer Steve Saldivar came across Humberto Renteria (right, holding Mexican flag) from Torrance and a friend last August on Whittier Boulevard in East L.A.
For those spared deportation under new Obama plan, what happens next?
The promised reviews of deportation cases announced last August by the Obama administration launched last month with a pilot program in Denver and Baltimore, and the results are in: Of some 11,682 cases reviewed, according to The Associated Press, about 1,600 people who don't have criminal records and show deep ties to the U.
In the news this morning: Deportation reviews find 1 in 6 qualify to stay, plans for a bilingual college, historic Chinatowns in decline, mo
In Test of Deportation Policy, 1 in 6 Offered Reprieve - New York Times A review of 7,900 deportation cases in immigration court in Denver, part of an Obama administration pilot program to review these cases, has identified about 1,300 people who qualify to remain in the United States, though it won't give them legal status.
A close look at Chinese immigration to the U.S., by the numbers
In case you haven't seen it, the Migration Policy Institute's Migration Information Source site has rolled out an extensive compilation of facts about Chinese immigration to the United States, from where Chinese immigrants live to how many Americans identify as being of Chinese descent.
How Mexican is Mitt? It's complicated (Audio)
So just how Mexican is Mitt Romney? In terms of where the paternal side of his family comes from, no question about it, though it's complicated. Culturally, not so much.
The coverage gap when people of color go missing
A post several months ago titled "Why you’ve heard of Caylee, but not Brisenia or Marchella" explored the dramatic disparity in news coverage when it comes to missing or murdered children, as well as adults.
In the news this morning: A more punitive border policy, Romney's immigration stance, seven charged in beating of Asian American teen, more
Reaction mixed to tougher Border Patrol stance - The Orange County Register There is mixed reaction to news that the U.S. Border Patrol plans more punitive measures for people caught crossing the border illegally, who traditionally have simply been repatriated.
How Mexican is Mitt Romney? It's muy complicated
Despite the fact that the former governor's father and grandfather were both born in Mexico, and regardless of the fact that he still has family there, neither the U.S. nor Mexico considers Mitt Romney Mexican.
But what would an abuela pocha say? (Videos)
There have been more spin-offs of last month's "Sh** Girls Say" videos on YouTube by now than anyone cares to count, most notably Francesca Ramsey's much-talked-about "Sh** White Girls Say.
Illegal immigration is down, so why do we keep talking like it isn't?
A new Gallup poll shows that nearly two out of every three Americans is "dissatisfied with the level of immigration into the country," and that 42 percent want it to decrease. And yet it already has.
In the news this morning: A Gallup poll on immigration, state immigration laws and the Bible, tougher policies on the border, more
Gallup poll: Immigration issue roils voters - Politico The results of a new Gallup poll show that more than four in 10 respondents "concerned about the issue say they want to see fewer foreigners entering the U.
Will state immigration crackdowns lose steam, or change form?
In a report out last week, the National Council of La Raza counted 31 of 36 state legislatures either voting down or otherwise not advancing anti-illegal immigration bills à la SB 1070 last year.
As Tucson's ethnic studies program shuts down and books are nixed, here's its reading list
On the heels of Tucson Unified School District shutting down its Mexican American Studies program last week, based on a court ruling, came more news: The subsequent nixing of books on the programs' reading list, many of which reportedly are being boxed up and put away.
