Personal news: I’m excited to announce I’ve joined the @apnews.com in its Mexico City bureau as a global editor I’m excited to take on this new role editing LatAm/global news, and don’t worry, you’ll still see my byline from time to time. New and old colleagues: reach out if you’re in CDMX!

Honored to be among this esteemed list of journalists including many of my @houstonlanding.bsky.social colleagues to win a Texas Managing Editors award for my specialty reporting on people with disabilities, a group often ignored by news media 🤩 www.texasmanagingeditors.org/2025/04/26/t...

I'm so proud of all the work we've done at @houstonlanding.bsky.social Honored to be a Livingston finalist alongside HISD reporter @ashersmall.bsky.social, a great journalist and human who I feel lucky to have met at the Houston Landing houstonlanding.org/two-houston-...

Two Houston Landing reporters honored as Livingston Award finalists

Immigration reporter Anna-Catherine Brigida and HISD reporter Asher Lehrer-Small were named finalists for the prestigious award.

houstonlanding.org

The recent immigration crackdown has led to key witnesses in Harris County being taken into ICE custody, making it more difficult to prosecute cases My latest for @houstonlanding.bsky.social on how the DA is handling this houstonlanding.org/after-increa...

After increased detentions, Harris County DA provides cards to identify immigrant witnesses

Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare instructed employees to provide cards to immigrant witnesses who could be detained by ICE.

houstonlanding.org

www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...

DHS shuts down internal watchdog agencies that advocated for immigrants

The three agencies investigated complaints, including about detention conditions and delays in processing green card and citizenship applications. They had about 300 employees.

washingtonpost.com

Maria Sacchetti - reporter - The Washington Post@mariasacchetti.bsky.social · last yr.

DHS shuts down internal watchdog agencies that advocated for immigrants

ICYMI: DHS confirms to me that it cut staff in civil rights and immigration oversight agencies as a part of a broader gov effort to reduce the size of gov. DHS spox Tricia McLaughlin says it "must streamline oversight to remove roadblocks to enforcement."

We are sending people for indefinite detention without trial at a foreign gulag because they have tattoos about soccer teams and about loving their mothers.

Fred Wellman@fpwellman.bsky.social · last yr.

I want you to understand this is happening in our name and we know most of these men committed no crimes. One is a professional soccer player who was tortured in Venezuela and was working through asylum in the U.S. ICE shipped him for his Real Madrid tattoo and a picture throwing rock & roll horns.

Immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela admitted through a Biden administration parole program could become vulnerable to deportation in a little over a month if they haven’t already secured another legal status.

Trump Terminates Parole Option for Venezuelan, Cuban Immigrants

The Department of Homeland Security released a notice Friday ending a Biden-era parole program for immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.

news.bloomberglaw.com

Kevin Zaldaña Ramírez was detained by ICE in Houston in Feb. despite having legal status. After ICE declined to release him, a judge granted him bond, according to his lawyer. But now the family is struggling to pay houstonlanding.org/how-am-i-goi...

‘How am I going to pay?': Houston immigrant with legal status granted bond, struggles to pay

Kevin Zaldaña Ramírez was granted bond after being illegally detained, according to his lawyer. But his family is struggling to pay.

houstonlanding.org

The immigration system is complex and overwhelming, so @houstonlanding.bsky.social has been publishing guides to help navigate this system My latest on how to avoid immigration fraud and scams: houstonlanding.org/fear-could-b...

Fear could be driving immigration fraud and scams. Here is how to protect yourself.

Trump’s immigration changes are sparking fear among immigrant communities, potentially leaving them susceptible to immigration frauds. Here’s what to know.

houstonlanding.org

Kevin Zaldaña Ramírez fled El Salvador after gangs tried to recruit him. He was granted a special legal status for minors, but was detained in Houston anyway. His mother Yolanda, who depends on Kevin because of her limited vision, called for his release houstonlanding.org/trumps-aggre...

Trump’s aggressive immigration roundup hits two Houston residents who have deportation protections

Houston immigrant rights group FIEL worries wrongful detentions of immigrants with deportation protections will increase under Trump.

houstonlanding.org

From @annacat.bsky.social, a story of two people that have been picked up under the Trump admin in recent weeks despite having legal status. In one case, a Border Patrol agent arrested a DACA recipient after claiming that a person can't have a work permit without having a visa (total nonsense).

Trump’s aggressive immigration roundup hits two Houston residents who have deportation protections

Houston immigrant rights group FIEL worries wrongful detentions of immigrants with deportation protections will increase under Trump.

houstonlanding.org

Wow. Now people who came here legally through a temporary program that Trump ended cannot adjust their status

Kathleen Bush-Joseph@kathleenbush.bsky.social · last yr.

Trump admin pauses adjudication of CHNV & Ukrainian parolees' applications for asylum, TPS & green cards But the fact remains that these people can't be deported w/out a removal order & their applications should be decided before one is issued www.cbsnews.com/news/u-s-pau...

Immigrants in detention face an uphill battle to win their cases, and some decide to give up altogether. Here's what it's like to try to win a case to stay in the US while detained @houstonlanding.bsky.social houstonlanding.org/inside-deten...

Inside detention center courts, detained immigrants, lawyers race against the clock to stay in U.S.

The fast pace of immigration court for those in detention makes it more difficult for lawyers to prepare a strong case, if immigrants can even find one in time.

houstonlanding.org

For my latest story, I reported on the lives of the undocumented contract workers who helped power Elon Musk's expansion in Austin. Sweeping debris, laying plumbing and pouring concrete, these workers built facilities that helped make Musk’s $400 billion fortune. Read for free: bloom.bg/41gG6a3

The Undocumented Workers Who Helped Build Elon Musk’s Texas Gigafactory

Tesla and SpaceX both relied on their labor while Musk advocated for a border crackdown.

bloom.bg

I'm still seeing this mistake People who came through the CBP One app did NOT get "asylum interviews" On the contrary, it was people who came b/w ports of entry who got screening interviews CBP One just allowed people to go on & apply for asylum as an exception to restrictions

Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston has laid off nearly a quarter of its employees after President Donald Trump signed an executive order suspending a refugee resettlement program.

Catholic Charities in Houston lays off 120 employees amidst refugee resettlement suspension

President Donald Trump signed an executive order in mid-January that suspended the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) and stopped federal funding for organizations that have helped refugees for decades. Three national nonprofits are part of a lawsuit filed Monday to challenge the suspension.

houstonpublicmedia.org

Venezuelans are among the fastest growing immigrant populations in Houston, and the decision to revoke an extension of TPS could strip many of them of deportation protections by the end of the year My latest for @houstonlanding.bsky.social houstonlanding.org/revoking-tem...

Revoking Temporary Protected Status extension could “shatter the lives” of Houston’s Venezuelan population

The decision could strip 600,000 Venezuelans of deportation protections and leave many Venezuelans in Houston vulnerable to immigration enforcement.

houstonlanding.org

The deportees included two pregnant women and more than 20 children, Colombian officials said. Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo: “Being a migrant is not a crime" @schmidtsam.bsky.social reports from Bogotá with @mariasacchetti.bsky.social www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...

Trump deported 200 Colombians. None were criminals, Colombian officials say.

Among the deportees who arrived back home Tuesday in Colombia were two pregnant women and more than 20 children.

washingtonpost.com

If Noem chooses to terminate the Venezuelan TPS designation that will suddenly be set to expire in April again, that could mean around 300,000 people would lose their jobs and deportation protections in a single day. Another 300,000 would be set to lose the same in September.

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 2y ago

600,000 Venezuelans with TPS just got a little less safe—Trump is revoking Mayorkas’ last-second extension of TPS, restoring previous expiration dates in April and September. Now Noem has to make a decision on extension or termination for about half that population by Feb 1 instead of spring 2026.

A reminder to everyone that nothing we’ve seen so far from ICE is particularly out of the ordinary, if a little stacked together. The effort for now is a marketing one, making it seem like they have more capacity, and people buying into the idea that raids are new is this strategy succeeding

I have heard from multiple sources today that lawyers who provide Know Your Rights presentations in ICE detention centers have been kicked out completely. These presentations are sometimes the only way people in detention find out details about the process they’re going through.

Maria is among the many exiled Nicaraguan journalists who fled the Ortega-Murillo government's crackdown and repression. A Biden program was her one hope to reunite with her 13-year-old son, but it was ended this week. houstonlanding.org/we-dont-have...

‘We don’t have options’: Trump ends parole for Venezuelans, Cubans, Nicaraguans and Haitians

The humanitarian parole program for Nicaraguans, Cubans, Venezuelans and Haitians to live in the U.S. has now been gutted per Trump’s executive order.

houstonlanding.org

If you're having trouble keeping up with all the immigration changes this week - from the border to birthright citizenship to refugee resettlement - here are some of the key policies that would impact Houston houstonlanding.org/these-are-th...

These are the top immigration changes affecting Houston in Trump’s first days

The initiatives signal the administration’s intent to carry out its campaign promises of mass deportations, and provide the first glimpse of how it would do it.

houstonlanding.org

DHS has announced on its website that it has restarted Remain in Mexico. No explicit mention of the Mexican govt's cooperation in this plan, which is crucial to be able to carry it out www.dhs.gov/news/2025/01...

DHS Reinstates Migrant Protection Protocols | Homeland Security

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Acting Secretary Benjamine Huffman reinstated the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) effective immediately.

dhs.gov

At @lawfare.bsky.social we're tracking the Trump administration's executive orders—and the inevitable legal challenges that arise. It's a work in progress, but our searchable archive of the EOs is now live, thanks to @annahickey.bsky.social — www.lawfaremedia.org/projects-ser...

Second is rescinding ICE and CBP enforcement actions near “sensitive” areas, such as schools, places of worship, healthcare centers, funerals, social services, relief centers. DHS says in statement that it "trusts (ICE) to use common sense."

Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman has issued two directives; one to curtail humanitarian parole to a case-by-case basis and "phase out any parole programs that are not in accordance with the law."

Jesus was excited for his wife and kids to reunite with him in Houston but their hopes of being together soon were shattered when the CBP One app closed down Monday. Here's how the end of the app has affected Houston-bound migrants: houstonlanding.org/migrants-fam...

Migrants, families heading to Houston left in limbo after Trump shuts down CBP One app

The end of CBP One came with a flurry of executive orders Monday to restrict migration and declare a national emergency at the border.

houstonlanding.org

It's not just undocumented immigrants. The Trump birthright citizenship EO says that every child born to a parent here on any non-immigrant visa (including student visas and other visas which allow people to live in the US for years) is not a US citizen. Unconstitutional in the extreme.

Michael Li (李之樸)@mcpli.bsky.social · 2y ago

The scope of the birthright citizenship executive order is broader than some rumors had it. The denial of birthright citizenship would apply not just to U.S. born children of *undocumented immigrants* but to anyone who did not have a parent who was at least a permanent resident.