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Mica Rosenberg

I am an investigative reporter on ProPublica’s national desk focusing on immigration.

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What I Cover

For close to two decades I’ve reported on immigration policy — with a focus on the dramatic changes over that time and who has been most affected — as well as on a broad range of other subjects from across the U.S. and Latin America. My work has examined how companies and the immigrant workers they rely on are affected by shifting rules and government regulations. I take the time needed to drill down on complex laws and data sources so I can write clearly and definitively about the subjects I cover.

My Background

I previously worked at Reuters, where our investigation exposing migrant child labor in the U.S. was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and won a George Polk Award, among other honors, and spurred government investigations. At ProPublica, I have explored lucrative detention contracting and deportations to increasingly far-flung places. My other past work has explored rising death tolls and changing demographics at the U.S.-Mexico border, facilitated by vast international smuggling networks. My stories have uncovered unnecessary deaths in immigration detention and long-standing inequities in the immigration court system, as well as the unregulated world of labor brokers bringing temporary workers into the country. Before covering immigration, I reported on legal affairs and white-collar crime in New York and was a foreign correspondent — first based in Guatemala and then in Mexico — reporting from 10 countries across the region, including Haiti, Honduras and Venezuela, following everything from natural disasters to political coups. An 18-month investigation with colleagues into corrupt deals worth billions of dollars at Mexico’s state-run oil company triggered probes by Mexican authorities. I am originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico, and am now based in New York.

Vino a EE.UU. para pagarle el tratamiento a su hijo enfermo. Lo detuvieron. Luego desapareció.

Como la mayoría de los más de 230 venezolanos deportados a una prisión salvadoreña, José Manuel Ramos Bastidas siguió las normas de inmigración estadounidenses. Pero Trump cambió las reglas.

He Came to the U.S. to Support His Sick Child. He Was Detained. Then He Disappeared.

Like most of the more than 230 Venezuelan men deported to a Salvadoran prison, José Manuel Ramos Bastidas had followed U.S. immigration rules. Then Trump rewrote them.

“Demorar, interferir, socavar”

El presidente Trump ha alabado al presidente Bukele de El Salvador como un luchador contra el crimen, pero una investigación periodística revela cómo el gobierno salvadoreño ha impedido una investigación estadounidense de la pandilla MS-13.

“Delay, Interfere, Undermine:” How El Salvador’s Government Impeded a U.S. Probe of MS-13

President Donald Trump has praised Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele as a crime fighter, but new reporting based on interviews and documents reveals how senior Salvadoran officials have impeded a U.S. investigation of the MS-13 gang.

El gobierno de Trump sabía que la gran mayoría de los venezolanos enviados a la prisión de El Salvador no había sido condenada por crimen alguno en EE.UU.

Los registros del Departamento de Seguridad Nacional de EE.UU., revelan que más de la mitad de los 238 deportados estaban catalogados sólo como infractores de las leyes de inmigración y no tenían prontuario criminal alguno en Estados Unidos.

ICE Awarded a $3.8 Billion Contract to Hold Immigrants on a Military Base. Days Later, It Was Canceled.

The administration still intends to move ahead with the plan to build a tent detention camp at Fort Bliss, sources said. It’s a job that promises to be highly sought after as Trump officials plan to pour billions of dollars into new detention facilities.

The New Immigration

La presión de Trump sobre países y organizaciones internacionales debilita las protecciones para solicitantes de asilo

Las medidas de la administración para expulsar a los solicitantes de asilo a terceros países pone a la Organización Internacional para las Migraciones en el centro de una política que los críticos consideran ilegal.

The New Immigration

Trump’s Pressure on Countries and International Organizations Erodes Protections for Asylum-Seekers

The administration’s moves to expel asylum-seekers to third countries put the International Organization for Migration at the center of a policy critics have called illegal.

The New Immigration

Trump Is Sending Migrants From Around the World to Guantanamo. One Mother Speaks Out About Her Son’s Detention.

The Trump administration detained Yoiker Sequera at Guantanamo Bay for almost two weeks before he was deported to Venezuela. His mother reflects on finding out her son had been sent to the infamous prison and the effects it had on her.

The New Immigration

Mother Speaks Out Against Trump’s Detention of Her Son at Guantanamo

Yoiker Sequera was among nearly 200 immigrants the Trump administration has flown to the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Sequera’s mother, Angela, reflects on finding out her son had been sent to the infamous prison.