New Role for Pooja Salhotra

Pooja Salhotra got to wondering: What was happening to all those people ICE arrested in Minneapolis? And so she followed the trail of detainees all the way to El Paso, where she exposed the harsh conditions that they were subjected to as the Trump administration tried to drive them from the country.

Her tireless legwork found person after person who described a place with scant water, filthy latrines and a pervasive atmosphere of terror. It was a place our readers were not meant to know about. Thanks to Pooja, they did - in vivid and horrifying detail.

In her year as a fellow on the National desk, Pooja has shown herself to be a nimble, creative and aggressive reporter.

And now she will be with us for good: Pooja will be our new general assignment reporter in New York.

"From the first days of her fellowship, Pooja has spotted news," said Jonathan Weisman. "Her first trip was for an A.I. high school that has since become all the rage. While in Austin, she caught wind of a completely different story, the dreaded screwworm . From breaking news to thoughtful, multifaceted political stories, Pooja has done it all."

Pooja was central to coverage of the Charlie Kirk assassination, has recently become an ace on Iowa politics and - importantly - has perfected a straight face when an editor confronts her with an assignment.

"She has consistently shined on hard-hitting stories breaking at night, particularly on tricky topics, at a time when there are often fewer resources available," Mark Shimabukuro said. "She has handled it all with incredible poise."

In her new role, which is critical to the success of our desk's news team, Pooja will turn her hand to all manner of news, from fast dailies to opportunistic enterprise dives. Her work will be a backbone of a newsy report.

Pooja, a Houston native, came to The Times after a stint at The Texas Tribune, and she's also done time at CNN, NPR and Chalkbeat. She went to Yale and started her professional life marketing Mountain Dew. After a year of touting this elixir, she enrolled at Harvard Law School. To her great credit, she swiftly bailed out for a master's in journalism at New York University.

Pooja has vindicated that decision in emphatic fashion, and we look forward to irresistible stories emanating from her keyboard. Please join us in congratulating her.

- Nestor and Steve