Bio: Leslie Berestein Rojas

Immigration and Emerging Communities Reporter

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

Report charts a dramatic rise in immigration-related state legislation

Leslie Berestein Rojas | August 02 2010, 6:27 PM

Just saw these eye-opening numbers in a new report from the National Conference of State Legislatures:

Leaked federal immigration memo being debated on AirTalk

Leslie Berestein Rojas | August 02 2010, 5:34 PM

There's a lively debate going on right now on AirTalk regarding the controversial U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services "amnesty" memo, leaked late last week to media. Listen at 89.

After Arizona decision and protests: Now what?

Leslie Berestein Rojas | August 02 2010, 4:13 PM

Photo by Patrick Dockens/Flickr (Creative Commons)

Featured comment: One reader's take on the SB 1070 ruling

Leslie Berestein Rojas | August 02 2010, 3:26 AM

Among the comments that came in while I was in Arizona was this one, sent by a reader supportive of the state's position on illegal immigration, in response to a post about a federal judge's ruling last Wednesday blocking parts of the law from being implemented.

And Lady Gaga, too

Leslie Berestein Rojas | August 01 2010, 7:04 PM

Photo by Naomi Lir/Flickr (Creative Commons)

SB 1070 supporters have their day in Phoenix

Leslie Berestein Rojas | August 01 2010, 6:45 PM

Photo by Dave Dorman/Flickr (Creative Commons)

Opponents of a planned mosque protest in Temecula

Leslie Berestein Rojas | July 31 2010, 6:56 AM

If Temecula were a state, given the attention it is drawing lately, it could well be Arizona, albeit with wineries. In mid-July, the city drew clashing protesters when it adopted an anti-illegal immigration ordinance requiring businesses with more than one employee to screen workers using E-Verify, an otherwise voluntary online program provided by the federal government that allows employers to screen for immigration status and check Social Security numbers.

Federal memo is latest big immigration story

Leslie Berestein Rojas | July 31 2010, 1:31 AM

Back from Phoenix, to a new story out of Washington that’s generating a buzz: A leaked internal memo from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, whose contents Republican critics are saying suggest a “backdoor amnesty.

A day after the pared-down SB 1070 takes effect, questions linger

Leslie Berestein Rojas | July 30 2010, 7:27 PM

Photo by Leslie Berestein Rojas/KPCC

Next up, the Arizona law's supporters

Leslie Berestein Rojas | July 30 2010, 12:00 PM

Missing conspicuously from Thursday's Phoenix protests against SB 1070 were counter-protesters. Since the Arizona measure was signed into law in April, its supporters have staged rallies and attempted to counter a nationwide boycott of Arizona by SB 1070 opponents with a "buycott" campaign, urging people to travel to the state and spend money.

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Leslie Berestein Rojas