Documented’s Impact and Financials

Documented's Editor-in-Chief Ethar El-Katatney speaks with senior reporter April Xu in Documented's office. (Credit: Rafe Andrews / DAWNING)

One woman speaks with another woman sitting down at a table.

Documented's Editor-in-Chief Ethar El-Katatney speaks with senior reporter April Xu in Documented's office. (Credit: Rafe Andrews / DAWNING)

Documented’s innovative approach to community journalism delivers impact at multiple levels. We hear from readers on WhatsApp, WeChat, and NextDoor every day about the services and opportunities they were able to access thanks to our guides and news. Our community-powered investigations have resulted in arrests, regulatory changes and even moved policy makers to create new legislation. Newsrooms around the country have seen the impact our model can have and have begun to adopt Documented’s approach to journalism.

Read our latest annual report, and see below the ways that our newsroom is making a difference for New York City’s immigrant communities and beyond.

By the Numbers
Recent Impacts
Testimonials from Readers
Documented’s Annual Reports and Financials
In the News
From Documented

By the Numbers

30 – Awards we’ve received since 2018
13 – Media outlets we’ve partnered with
100+ – Newsrooms interested in learning about our community journalism model
500+ – Multilingual guides created to help immigrant New Yorkers
1,300+ – Attendees at community events in 2025

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Recent Impacts

Here are some of our recent stories and investigations that have had an impact on critical issues facing New York City’s immigrant communities. For more, look at our annual reports below and follow our LinkedIn page.

INVESTIGATING WAGE THEFT

In August 2023, Documented launched the Wage Theft Monitor, one of the largest public repositories of data ever released on New York State businesses found guilty of wage theft. Created in partnership with ProPublica, the searchable database maps out over 29,000 proven claims of wage theft, representing the stories of more than 160,000 workers whose wages have been stolen by exploitative employers.

This wage theft research inspired the introduction of new state-level regulations and bills to deter and punish businesses engaging in wage theft and has helped workers advocates protect immigrants. As state Sen. Jessica Ramos noted: “We did not have the data to understand the scale of the [wage theft] issue in New York State until the ProPublica and Documented series came out last year.”

Man reads from booklet to older woman. — Rommel Ojeda, Documented’s community correspondent for Spanish-speaking communities, at at an event co-hosted by Documented and NYLAG at St. Paul & St. Andrew’s Church. (Credit: April Xu).

FROM THE BRONX TO CECOT: INVESTIGATING UNPRECEDENTED DEPORTATIONS

Documented uncovered the detention of 19-year-old son Merwil Gutiérrez – a Venezuelan asylum seeker in the Bronx with no criminal record – who was arrested in the Bronx and sent to El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison. A cousin who witnessed the arrest said that officers said he wasn’t the intended target but took him anyway.

We then identified a second man arrested and sent to CECOT: 22-year-old Venezuelan musician Ángel Blanco Marin. Their unprecedented detentions sparked outcry from New York officials such as Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Adriano Espaillat as well as Attorney General Letitia James.

In joint reporting with The City, we discovered that both men were initially arrested by the NYPD on gun charges that were dropped, transferred to FBI custody, handed to ICE, and deported to El Salvador. The findings sparked City Council leaders to call for an investigation into potential NYPD–ICE cooperation. The Department of Investigation later released a memo citing five sanctuary law violations and announced NYPD policy changes, crediting our reporting.

After about four months imprisoned, Merwil and Ángel were released along with more than 200 other Venezuelan men and reunited with family in Venezuela. We covered Merwil’s reunion with his sister and Ángel’s account of his arrest and brutal detention.

UNCOVERING POLITICAL CORRUPTION

In the months leading up to New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ historic indictment, Documented was on the ground untangling Adams’ suspicious financial ties to Chinese business figures in New York City. Documented looked into the maze of political connections surrounding changes at Chinatown’s iconic East Broadway Mall. Findings led to an investigation of sources that, in partnership with The CITY, uncovered a straw donor scheme linked to Mayor Eric Adams’ campaign fundraising and raised concerns about the fundraising practices of his Chinese community liaison, Winnie Greco.

Documented and THE CITY also released an investigation into Greco – who is currently under FBI investigation – days before her resignation, underscoring her influence in steering the mayor’s connection to the Chinese government and local Chinese community.