Amir Khafagy

Amir Khafagy is an award-winning New York City-based journalist. He is currently the Senior Labor Reporter with Documented NY. Much of Amir's beat explores the intersections of labor, race, class, immigration, and urban policy.


His writing has been featured in The Guardian, Vice, The New Republic, New York Mag, The City, Bloomberg, Prism, Documented, The Appeal, Dame, The American Prospect, Jacobin, and In These Times. Additionally, Amir has worked as a researcher for the critically acclaimed podcast Serial. 

Previously, Amir was a Report for America Corps member. He has been awarded the 2022 LION Local Journalism Accountability Award, Type Investigations 2021 Ida B. Wells Fellowship, The Sidney Hillman Foundation's Reporting the U.S. Workplace Program, The Newmark J-School 2021 Education Reporting Scholarship, The International Center for Journalists COVID-19 Reporting Award, The New Economics Reporting Fellowship, The Economic Hardship Reporting Grant, The Talk Poverty Writer Workshop Fellowship, The Asian American Writers Workshop Open City Fellowship, and The AARP Freelance Fellowship. 



Amir holds a BA in Urban Studies and an MA in Urban Affairs from Queens College. 


As a performer, Amir has appeared in Ping Chong & Company's Beyond Sacred: Voices of Muslim Identity. He has also appeared in Gun Country, a Houses on the Moon theatre company production.

A lifelong New Yorker, Amir was born and raised in Jackson Heights, Queens, into a working-class, Muslim, immigrant family. His mother is Puerto Rican, and his father is an immigrant from Egypt. Follow him on Twitter @AmirKhafagy91

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Years After Pandemic, Immigrant Healthcare Workers Demand Better Wages and Workplace Protections

Just one day before droves of Knicks fans wearing orange and blue took to the city’s streets on Thursday, a wave of purple shirts swelled Manhattan’s Foley Square. Dressed in purple were thousands of healthcare workers, members of the union 1199SEIU, who were rallying to win a new contract with pay increases, job security, and safeguards against workplace violence. Music blasted out of jumbo speakers on Wednesday afternoon, as the roar of pro-union chants like “Say it loud, say it proud, New York is a union town” reverberated for several blocks. The union, which represents 34.3% of New York’s healthcare workforce, is made up of many immigrant workers, whose jobs span from registered nurses to home care workers and hospital cleaners.
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Mayor Mamdani Announces Sweeping Workplace Heat Safety Guidelines

Extreme heat is killing construction workers, with at least four deaths occurring in New York state due to heat-related causes in 2024 alone. With the state already experiencing several heat waves this year before the summer has gotten fully underway, projections show the city is only going to get hotter by midcentury. Most susceptible to heat-related injuries are the 1.4 million people in New York City who work outdoors for long periods of time, many of whom are immigrants of color. To combat the growing crisis, Mayor Zohran Mamdani signed an Executive Order on Monday to protect workers from the dangers of rising extreme heat.
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Luxury Clothing Brand Accused of Stealing $54,000 From Workers

Workers at the high-end Manhattan luxury brand SALON 1884 are used to sewing garments retailing for thousands of dollars. But in a new indictment from District Attorney Alvin Bragg, workers allege that the brand’s owner owes them much more: nearly $54,000 in stolen wages. On Wednesday, Manhattan District Attorney Bragg, in cooperation with the New York State Department of Labor, announced an indictment against SALON 1884 owner Andrea Marshall, 44, in connection with wage theft and exploitative working conditions.
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Municipal Union Demands City Hall Release Pay Disparity Report

New Yorkers continue to struggle with an affordability crisis, and the city’s municipal workers are no exception. Now, one union is calling on Mayor Zohran Mamdani to finally release a report that could give better insight into pay disparity among city workers.  Since 2019, the mayor’s office has been legally required to publish an annual pay disparity report that breaks down compensation across city agencies by race and gender. The last time the report was released was in 2024, which compile...
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New York Immigration Coalition Employees Push for Union Recognition

On Tuesday morning, workers for The New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) delivered a letter to management demanding that they recognize their right to unionize.   Dubbing themselves NYIC United, about 40 workers have been organizing since April for better pay and a greater voice in the direction of the organization. The workers’ demands also include increased protections for immigrant workers, support for their immigration cases, financial transparency and pay equity.
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Mamdani’s Executive Budget Increases Funding for Worker Protection Agency

Last week, Mayor Zohran Mamdani balanced the city’s checkbook — and shored up his campaign commitment to worker protections. On May 12, the mayor unveiled the $124.7 billion executive budget for the fiscal year 2027. Mamdani’s ability to avert a fiscal crisis by closing the city’s projected $12 billion deficit received much fanfare, but another victory flew under the radar: the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP), the city’s top labor agency, received a budget increase.
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Immigration Discrimination Complaints Surge in New York During Trump’s Second Term

For four years, Guerrero rode in a van delivering food for 12 to 14 hours a day, earning less than minimum wage. When he finally worked up the courage to ask for a raise, his boss told him that “he could get two immigrants for the same salary,” said Guerrero, who preferred to go by his last name only for fear of reprisal. The comment motivated him to hire a lawyer and send his employer a notice of intent to sue. When word got back to his boss, Guerrero said that he sent someone to threaten him if he did not drop his case. “He’s telling me that he’s gonna call ICE on me,” Guerrero said.
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NYC Airport Workers are Fighting Their Boss Over Working Conditions

Just days after being cited on a list of employers with the worst safety records, a contractor at New York City airports was hit with more employee complaints.  Alliance Ground International (AGI) – named in the National Conference on Occupational Safety and Health’s annual “Dirty Dozen” Report – was the subject of two unsafe working condition complaints made with the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
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Too Hot at Any Height: New Report Sounds the Alarm on Heat-Related Deaths at Construction Sites

As New York’s skyline reaches record heights, rising global temperatures remain a deadly factor on New York’s construction sites, according to a new report released today. Research conducted by the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH) in its 2026 Deadly Skyline report found that in 2024, the hottest year in recorded history, at least four construction workers in the state died due to heat-related causes. This is the first year the organization has tallied such deaths.
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He Went After Trump. Now He’s Going After Bad Bosses.

On May 1, celebrated worldwide as International Workers’ Day, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg delivered a gift for employees at a Midtown sports bar.  Owners of La Macarena Restaurant & Sport Bar at West 48th Street were indicted for allegedly stealing tens of thousands of dollars in worker wages between 2021 and 2025. Although the restaurant closed in January 2025, at least six employees are still owed a total of more than $35,000 in unpaid wages.
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Let There Be Light: City's First Delivery Worker Hub Sits Empty Due to Lack of Power

On April 7, the city cut the ribbon on the country’s first delivery worker hub to much fanfare.  Located at 249 Broadway, right outside City Hall, the long-delayed hub was unveiled as one of the seminal triumphs of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s first 100 days in office.  The conversion of an abandoned newsstand into a center for delivery workers to charge their batteries, rest, repair their bikes, and gain access to information on street safety was the realization of a dream by members of the Wor...
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“Scabby the Rat” Still Allowed Outside of Educational Facilities After Mamdani Veto

Scabby the Rat — the unofficial mascot of labor picket lines in New York City — just won a major battle in the fight to protect protesters’ rights On Friday, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced that he’s vetoing legislation that would have given the NYPD power to establish anti-protest buffer zones outside schools and educational institutions. Critics of Int. 175-B, including city labor unions, say the bill would have severely hampered free speech. The bill grew out of concern that the protests against what many regard as a genocide in Gaza could cause upheaval on local campuses.
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Home Care Workers End Hunger Strike on Apparent Deal — But Future of ‘No More 24’ Bill Still in Limbo

The weeklong hunger strike by 15 elderly immigrant home care workers to end 24-hour shifts in the home care industry is coming to an end.  The workers said they reached a deal with City Council Speaker Julie Menin Wednesday night, in which she promised to introduce the No More 24 Act to a vote on May 14. Although workers, who are part of the Ain’t I a Woman?! campaign, hoped that the speaker would introduce the bill sooner, they are willing to pause their hunger strike.
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Report: Airport Contractor Named One of America’s Worst Employers

Workers at New York’s three major airports have had to endure extreme heat, unsafe working conditions, and wage theft. And this week — which happens to be Workers Memorial Week — their employer, Alliance Ground International (AGI), has been cited in a new report as one of the worst employers in the country. In its annual “Dirty Dozen” Report, the National Conference on Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH), which cites Documented’s reporting, flagged AGI for numerous workplace safety violations across the country.
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Gov. Hochul Moves to Block City Bill Banning 24-hour Home Care Shifts: Sources Say

The behind-the-scenes opposition to legislation that would ban 24-hour shifts for home health aides is apparently growing, with Gov. Kathy Hochul pushing to block the bill from even coming up for a vote, two sources with direct knowledge of the situation told Documented. The sources told Documented that Hochul has been pressuring City Council Speaker Julie Menin to withdraw the No More 24 Act before the City Council can vote on it. They said that the governor has threatened to withhold funding for the expected increased Medicaid costs that could accompany the bill becoming law. The new revelations come as elderly immigrant home care workers embark on a hunger strike on Thursday in an effort to pressure Menin to bring the bill to a vote.
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Labor of Love? Mamdani’s Record with Workers in His First 100 Days

Within 100 days of becoming mayor, Mamdani has kept a jam-packed schedule of public appearances. He has fixed potholes, personally answered 311 calls, and even announced a multimillion-dollar settlement with delivery app HungryPanda alongside an endangered Red Panda at the Prospect Park Zoo. He’s done all that with his trademark smile. But aside from the smiles and handshakes, the question remains: Has Mamdani delivered on his biggest campaign promises to improve the lives of the city’s hundreds of thousands of immigrant workers?
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New York Unveils Nation’s First Delivery Worker Hub

After a long winter, spring has finally sprung in New York — flowers are in bloom, New Yorkers are picnicking in the parks — and outside of City Hall, a long-derelict newsstand has also found new life. Delivery workers – who have long struggled to find a place to shelter from the elements, recharge their e-bikes and themselves — would finally receive on Tuesday a brand-new delivery worker hub, the first of its kind in the country.
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Strike Looms as NYC Residential Building Workers Demand Legal Aid for Immigrants

New York’s 34,000 residential building workers are preparing to take their fight for a new contract to the picket line — and their demands include legal assistance for their immigrant members. On April 15, the residential building workers, represented by their union, 32BJ SEIU, are set to authorize a strike if ongoing contract negotiations hit a dead end with the Realty Advisory Board on Labor Relations (RAB), which represents the New York City residential real estate industry.
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