Anna-Cat Brigida

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...

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.

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-...

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.

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...

www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...

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.

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.

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.

‘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.

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...

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.

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...

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.

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.

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).

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

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.

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...

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.

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

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 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.

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.

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.

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...

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.

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...

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.

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.

‘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.

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...

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.

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...

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 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...

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."

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.

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...