Rommel H. Ojeda

Following Maduro's Capture, Venezuelan Immigrants Face an Uncertain Future - Documented Venezuelan immigrants and asylum seekers in the U.S. are now grappling with mixed emotions, unsure about what — or where — their future will be.

For @documentedny.bsky.social, I wrote about the uncertainty Venezuelan immigrants feel about their future in the U.S. While they celebrate Maduro’s capture, they say the country still has a long way to go before people can return.

documentedny.com/2026/01/16/m...

For These New Yorkers, a New Year’s Resolution to Reunite With Their Deported Family - Documented President Trump’s first year in office saw at least 4,177 immigrant New Yorkers deported, many without criminal convictions, reshaping families’ lives as they began the new year apart.

NY families like the Ouattaras are being reshaped by Trump’s deportation agenda. In his second term’s first year, 4,177 immigrants were deported from NY—2,454 without criminal convictions. Communities are hollowed out, and families are left struggling to reunite.

documentedny.com/2026/01/12/d...

Christmas Comes Early in Corona, Queens - Documented For some immigrant families in Queens — many of whom are grappling with economic hardship, family separation and fears of deportation — the “Magical Christmas” event brought some relief and a bit of h...

For some immigrant families — many of whom are grappling with economic hardship, family separation and fears of deportation — the “Magical Christmas” event in Queens brought some relief and a bit of holiday cheer.

documentedny.com/2025/12/23/c... via @documentedny.bsky.social

Today’s Throughline (my @documentedny.bsky.social column) is about the family of Any López Belloza, the various meanings of “targeting,” and the calculus of speaking out about your immigration case if it means your loved ones might be on ICE’s radar. linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%...

Abandoned Asylum Cases Have Doubled in 2025, Data Shows - Documented New findings suggest that the immigration system — largely driven by fear and new administrative traps — makes it dangerously easy for families to lose their cases without ever having their day in cou...

The number of abandoned asylum cases in 2025 is roughly double that of last year – a trend that experts say is a consequence of new administrative hurdles. documentedny.com/2025/12/19/a...

Legal Help on Wheels: NYLAG’s Free Mobile Clinic Meets New Yorkers in Their Neighborhood - Documented From immigration advice to housing help, this mobile legal clinic offers no-cost legal support directly in the community.

From labor issues to divorce proceedings to asylum claims, NYLAG’s Free Mobile Clinic is bringing free legal help directly to New Yorkers in their neighborhoods.

documentedny.com/2025/12/12/l... via @documentedny.bsky.social

Immigration Processes are Never 'Automatic' Language is key to thinking and writing clearly about immigration. Improve your thinking and your writing today by removing this one deceptive word from your vocabulary.

Want to level up your writing about immigration? Here's how to write – and think – more clearly. Improve your thinking and your writing today by removing this one deceptive word from your vocabulary.

austinkocher.substack.com/p/immigratio...

Airport ICE Arrests See a 94% Spike — Putting Thousands of Immigrants In Danger - Documented Across the country, more and more immigrants are being arrested, detained and sometimes deported while embarking on domestic flights.

Diallo, whose legal counsel confirmed her lawful status, was arrested at LaGuardia Airport by ICE. Advocates and politicians have said the detentions of immigrants without criminal records do not offer community safety, rather they stoke fear.
documentedny.com/2025/12/05/i...

Airport ICE Arrests See a 94% Spike — Putting Thousands of Immigrants In Danger - Documented Across the country, more and more immigrants are being arrested, detained and sometimes deported while embarking on domestic flights.

Since Jan. 20, ICE airport arrests are up 94%, and arrests of immigrants without criminal records rose 560%. My story on Aissatou Diallo’s arrest at LaGuardia Airport in Queens examines the impact on families and the fear these arrests have stoked in others.

documentedny.com/2025/12/05/i...

Immigrant Families Are Bringing the Flavor to Their Thanksgiving Feast - Documented This Thanksgiving, immigrant New Yorkers are putting their own delicious twist on the classic American meal.

Thanksgiving has become a way to respect the culture of their new home, while maintaining the richness of their heritage. Documented Rommel H. Ojeda

Immigrant Families Are Bringing the Flavor to Their Thanksgiving Feast
https://documentedny.com/2025/11/26/immigrant-thanksgiving-journey-traditions/

Immigrant Families Are Bringing the Flavor to Their Thanksgiving Feast - Documented This Thanksgiving, immigrant New Yorkers are putting their own delicious twist on the classic American meal.

A Bronx kitchen, a blender of chiles, and a grandmother’s recipe from Mexico: Thanksgiving becomes pavo enchilado, memory, and migration. 🦃 For @documentedny.bsky.social, I wrote about how immigrant families bring the flavors of home to the holiday table.

documentedny.com/2025/11/26/i...

A Family's Fight to Bring Their Father Home - Documented Don Lupe had been living in the U.S. for 27 years when he was detained by ICE agents during a worksite raid in New Jersey. Then his family fought to have him freed.

As ICE agents circled the workers around, thoughts began rushing through Don Lupe’s mind: The thought of abandoning his wife and children; the thought that his 27-year life in the U.S. was suddenly over. Nuanced and beautiful reporting by @rojeda.bsky.social @documentedny.bsky.social bit.ly/3XH2cj8

A Family's Fight to Bring Their Father Home - Documented Don Lupe had been living in the U.S. for 27 years when he was detained by ICE agents during a worksite raid in New Jersey. Then his family fought to have him freed.

After 27 years in the U.S., Don Lupe was detained by ICE at his New Jersey workplace. His family and community fought to bring him home. His story shows the quiet, devastating toll these detentions take on families, and the growing rise of raids at NJ bonded warehouses. @documentedny.bsky.social

New Yorkers Are Still Going Hungry from SNAP Delays Because SNAP benefits are issued a month in advance, many won’t see relief until well after the government reopens. Meanwhile, food pantries say the need for food has intensified even more.

The shutdown may be over, but SNAP delays mean many New Yorkers still aren’t getting benefits. Food pantries are seeing longer lines and more people struggling with rising costs. @documentedny.bsky.social @rojeda.bsky.social

Read more: documentedny.com/2025/11/14/s...

After attorney Kofi Amankwaa was sentenced for defrauding hundreds of immigrants, his victims were left without help—no guidance, no restitution, some facing deportation. "They didn’t leave us with anything to protect ourselves," L. told
@documentedny.bsky.social

documentedny.com/2025/10/06/k...

A new report found a NYC DOC investigator broke sanctuary laws by sharing detainee info with ICE. Advocates warn such breaches fuel fear in immigrant communities and highlight gaps in DOC training and oversight.

documentedny.com/2025/09/25/n...

HAPPENING NOW: 11 lawmakers have been arrested by DHS on the tenth floor of 26 Federal Plaza after trying to gain access for over an hour.

NYPD seized 53 e-bikes in East Village sweeps after 311 complaints, costing delivery workers thousands in lost wages. Advocates say the sweeps show the Adams admin criminalizing delivery workers, mostly immigrants, while failing to build needed infrastructure.

documentedny.com/2025/09/17/e...

Last month I spoke with @maketheroadny.bsky.social on the TRO and what it meant for immigrants in NYC: documentedny.com/2025/08/13/m...

District Court Grants Order Prohibiting ICE from Detaining Immigrants in Abusive Conditions at 26 Federal Plaza | American Civil Liberties Union NEW YORK – A U.S. District Court granted a preliminary injunction today that would improve conditions for people detained by Immigration and Customs...

🚨Update: A TRO against ICE’s holding conditions at 26 Federal Plaza has now become a preliminary injunction with class certification. A judge barred ICE from overcrowding and ordered mats, soap, hygiene supplies & confidential lawyer calls within 24 hrs.

www.aclu.org/press-releas...

‘We Are Not Going Back to the Shadows’: Staten Island’s Mexican Parade Marches On - Documented Thousands of Mexican immigrants and allies gathered in Staten Island to celebrate Mexican Independence Day, despite fears of ICE presence, to show their pride in their culture and to support one…

🇲🇽 In the midst of all the Mexican Independence Day parade cancellations, the community in Staten Island came OUT. "We are not going back to the shadows," members told the organizers. cc @HolaLaYesenia / @LaColmenaNYC

Read more from @cestrommel here:

documentedny.com/2025/09/15/s...

Más información sobre nuestros esfuerzos para alentar a las comunidades vulnerables a denunciar las infracciones laborales y el fraude migratorio en @documentedny.bsky.social: documentedny.com/2025/09/08/m...

Thousands of Mexican immigrants and allies gathered in Staten Island to celebrate Mexican Independence Day, despite fears of ICE presence, to show their pride in their culture and to support one another.
documentedny.com/2025/09/15/s...

. @maketheroadny.bsky.social Attorney Explains What the TRO Means for Federal Plaza Detainees
documentedny.com/2025/08/13/m...

Hey, look! It's our Cafewal project in the news! Thanks @documentedny.bsky.social and @rojeda.bsky.social for coming to see what we are doing alongside the newest New Yorkers, asylum seekers and migrants.

Dylan, a Bronx high schooler, was detained by ICE on May 21. He has no criminal record. A judge granted a motion to reconsider the improper dismissal of his asylum case, but he remains detained. “This is like a global nightmare,” his mother told me.

documentedny.com/2025/07/23/d...

From El Salvador’s CECOT Prison to His Family’s Arms - Documented After spending 125 days in El Salvador’s notorious Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT) prison, Merwil Gutiérrez, a 20-year-old asylum seeker detained in the Bronx, was released last Friday ...

After four months of being held in El Salvador’s maximum security prison #CECOT, #Merwil #Gutiérrez— who was arrested in the Bronx— reunited with his sister in Venezuela last Friday. “Thank God my son is over there now,” his father told @documentedny.bsky.social

documentedny.com/2025/07/21/v...

“People who are doing housing work, family law, tax work, all these things — they are all being touched by the trend of detention that’s happening..."

Deborah Lee, Attorney-in-Charge at The Legal Aid Society

documentedny.com/2025/07/07/s...

ICE is Helping Predators Scam Immigrants Transcript: The US government has empowered a secret police force to round up people they suspect of being undocumented immigrants and disappearing them off the streets, out of schools, and even aw…

I've been talking about con artists for two decades, and this is one of the worst scams I've ever seen: fake immigration lawyers are taking advantage of immigrants who want to legally live in the US but are scared of being abducted by ICE thugs skepchick.org/2025/06/ice-...

Fake Immigration Courts Take Advantage of Immigrants Desperate for Answers Immigrants seeking legal help online to protect themselves from Trump’s deportation plans are increasingly falling prey to costly scams.

What a disturbingly intricate scam: Immigrants end up paying thousands of dollars and attending fake virtual immigration hearings over many months—all the while jeopardizing their real immigration cases by missing the real hearings.