When Allan Marrero, an asylum-seeker from the Cayman Islands, was released after five months in immigration detention, he invited only one journalist to his celebration: Eileen Grench, a reporter with the independent, non-profit news outlet Documented. Grench had previously covered Marrero's case, which involved being detained after seeking a marriage-based green card. The Marreros’ trust in Grench and Documented allowed for in-depth reporting that gained widespread attention, even catching the eye of New York City’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani, who tweeted about Grench’s story after Allan’s release. Documented is one of many immigrant-serving news outlets across the U.S. that are stepping in where traditional media has stepped back, often due to budget cuts, staff reductions, or a lack of connection with immigrant communities. These independent news organizations are using modern platforms like social media, chat apps, and other nontraditional methods to directly engage with immigrant populations, especially during times of heightened immigration enforcement by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). “The impacts are phenomenal for relatively new media outlets, and part of it is because they’re operating on such a hyper-local level,” said Angie Chuang, a journalism professor at the University of Colorado Boulder. Last year, Documented and other local immigrant-focused news outlets formed the Immigrant News Coalition (INC) to share strategies and resources for serving these communities. The coalition has since received a $1.5 million award from the Press Forward Foundation to help develop sustainable revenue models for these newsrooms. Through listening tours and community research, these outlets have found that many immigrants in the U.S. don’t rely on traditional news websites or notifications. Instead, they often use platforms like WhatsApp, which is used by over half of U.S. Latinos. To reach these communities where they are, Documented runs WhatsApp groups in Spanish, WeChat groups for Chinese immigrants, and a TikTok account in Haitian Creole to provide accurate information and combat misinformation. “Misinformation thrives when there is a vacuum of good information, and immigrant communities are so vulnerable because of the lack of alternatives,” said Madeleine Bair, founder of El Tímpano, a Bay Area news outlet. These efforts focus on creating content specifically for immigrant communities rather than translating news meant for non-immigrant audiences. For many of these outlets, the work has been ongoing for years. In 2019, Documented co-founders Mazin Sidahmed and Max Siegelbaum began investigating wage theft in New York, leading to the creation of the Wage Theft Monitor. This project inspired state legislators to introduce bills to address the issue. Similarly, LA Taco, a news outlet focused on food and culture, gained trust in Los Angeles immigrant communities through its coverage. When ICE raids hit the city last year, journalist Memo Torres began posting verified updates on Instagram, becoming a trusted source for immigrant communities and significantly increasing the publication's reach. Other outlets, like LA Taco, have also used creative methods, such as political cartoons, to engage the public and spark conversations about important issues.