Leslie Berestein Rojas
Immigrant Communities Reporter (she/her/ella)My focus is on our coverage of L.A.’s communities of color and immigrant diasporas. Before this, I spent 10 years covering immigrant communities for KPCC.
When I was a kid, my family left Cuba and landed in Huntington Park. I grew up there, speaking Spanish at home and steeped in Southeast L.A.’s beautiful Latinidad. I love telling the stories of L.A. and its people. Now, I get to help shape those stories and work with talented reporters to hone their craft.
I’ve also covered immigration on the U.S.-Mexico border, reported stories in Mexico and other parts of Latin America, and done lots more for large newspapers and national magazines.
Among the things I love about L.A.: family, food from everywhere, signs in dozens of languages, the smells of chaparral and dusty freeways, the downtown skyline as you cross a bridge from the east. Mostly, I love that it’s home.
-
Essays
We feel it’s time to reopen our conversation that we started with RACE IN LA. We’re asking for your help. -
News
As more Afghan refugees arrive in Southern California, resettlement agencies are hurrying to find them permanent housing — no easy task in one of the country’s toughest rental markets.
-
News
Some local Catholic churches are marking the observance this year with special memorials and services honoring those who died during the pandemic.
-
Play In LA
For decades, the rival football teams of Roosevelt High in Boyle Heights and Garfield High in East L.A. have duked it out in the East L.A. Classic. The pandemic forced the cancellation of last year’s game.
-
News
Officials say thousands of kids have been reunited with family or sponsors since, and they expect to finish the job by Oct. 26.
-
News
The Trump administration canceled the Central American Minors program in 2017, leaving thousands of kids in limbo. Now it’s been revived and expanded — and the first of these young people began arriving in L.A. last week.
-
News
As the legendary Dodgers broadcaster retires we look back at how the former high school soccer player from Ecuador become one of the most recognized voices in Major League Baseball.
-
News
Bashir and Naseema Kashefi left Anaheim with their three kids in June to visit relatives in Kabul, and got stuck there after the Taliban takeover last month. Finally, they're home safe.
-
News
Hundreds of Afghan refugees will soon be resettling in Southern California. But there are few local refugee resettlement agencies left to help them.
-
News
Bashir and Naseema Kashefi traveled to Afghanistan to visit relatives this summer with their three kids, their first trip back after arriving as refugees in 2017. They were stranded there when the government fell to the Taliban last month.
