Noah Gottschalk

Honored to speak today in the shadow of the White House, alongside incredible refugees, doctors, lawyers, and activists, demanding with one voice that the Biden administration drop its harmful, anti-asylum policies & #WelcomeWithDignity

The press release below — teasing a "major announcement" tomorrow from Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes — landed recently in the inboxes of all local Buffalo reporters. @politicony reports what it's about: CPS will not seek re-election & will announce tomorrow.

Whatever happens, this is a deeply shameful episode in American history that will leave a permanent stain on the country. Repeatedly vowing to commit war crimes against millions of civilians is beyond the pale.

Today is the Transgender Day of Visibility and I'll take the opportunity to once again say that trans people matter, their lives have meaning, and what's being done to them by so many politicians and people in this country is wrong.

NEW: ICE & DHS are accusing one of Rep. Veronica Escobar's (D-TX) staffers of repeatedly falsely claiming to be a lawyer in order to enter an ICE detention facility, meet with detainees, and give them cell phones. ICE says logbooks show Benito Torres falsely claimed to be a lawyer 11 times and repeatedly signed federal G-28 forms falsely attesting that he was an attorney there to see his clients. ICE says during one visit, the facility administrator at Camp East Montana caught Torres giving a phone to multiple detainees and confronted him, and Torres admitted he wasn't a lawyer and was visiting as a private citizen. Torres is now banned from ICE facilities, and the ICE Director has sent a letter to Rep. Escobar, demanding to know if Torres made the "fraudulent visits" with authorization from her, and whether or not she will cooperate with a potential federal investigation into the incident. We have reached out to Rep. Escobar's office, which tells @FoxNews they are looking into it. Will update when we hear back. Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) fired a staffer last year who had falsely claimed to be an attorney to gain entry to an ICE facility.

New Interview with Yehuda Shaul: newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/h…

Today’s military strikes on Iran — carried out by the United States and Israel — mark a catastrophic escalation in an illegal war of aggression. Bombing cities. Killing civilians. Opening a new theater of war.  Americans do not want this. They do not want another war in pursuit of regime change. They want relief from the affordability crisis. They want peace. I am focused on making sure that every New Yorker is safe. I have been in contact with our Police Commissioner and emergency management officials. We are taking proactive steps, including increasing coordination across agencies and enhancing patrols of sensitive locations out of an abundance of caution. Additionally, I want to speak directly to Iranian New Yorkers: you are part of the fabric of this city — you are our neighbors, small business owners, students, artists, workers, and community leaders. You will be safe here.

Three historical lessons about bombing campaigns and regime change:

RT @NYCMayor: Just got off the phone with President Trump. In our meeting earlier, I shared my concerns about Columbia student Elaina Agha…

@_aswesterman And falsely claims her killer came in through “open borders”

Trump talks about Iryna Zarutska, the Ukrainian refugee murdered in Charlotte… BUT doesn’t mention the program she entered the US on (Uniting4Ukraine) or explain why his admin has paused it indefinitely — putting ppl at risk of being sent back to a war zone. #SOTU2026

#Somalis are in the U.S. because they fled a civil war and famine that U.S. foreign policy helped fuel. We brought Somali families here for safety, and they’ve rebuilt thriving communities. Blaming them now ignores history and deflects from real solutions. #SOTU2026

"They were promised safety & the chance to rebuild their lives. Instead, DHS is now threatening them with arrest & indefinite detention.” Great reporting by ⁦@Ximena_Bustillo⁩ on the admin’s unprecedented new attack on refugees, feat. HIAS’ reaction npr.org/2026/02/19/g-s…

“This policy is a transparent effort to detain and potentially deport thousands of people who are legally present in this country, people the US government itself welcomed after years of extreme vetting” - HIAS. Our full statement: hias.org/statements/hia…

More from HIAS: hias.org/statements/hia…

Important analysis from @arelisrhdz on the Trump admin’s unprecedented and unnecessary new plan to indefinitely detain refugees who arrived to the US legally after years of vetting, people who were promised safety and instead are being terrorized: washingtonpost.com/immigration/20…

The administration’s latest anti-refugee policy is nothing more than a transparent effort to detain and potentially deport thousands of people who are legally present in this country, people the U.S. government itself welcomed after years of extreme vetting -@HIASrefugees

@TomWarrickAC @lrozen @nytimes Khuran (Clarence) Straight?

This @nytimes article has been annoying me all day. The photo is described as the Strait of Hormuz, but it's not. Where is it? Kudos to whomever can figure out where it really is! nytimes.com/2026/02/16/wor…

WATCH: Bad Bunny's entire Super Bowl halftime show performance, featuring Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin.

Still reeling that my four years covering the war in Ukraine for The Washington Post are up — right before the invasion anniversary. I plan to stay in Kyiv because this story is more important than ever. So please reach out with opportunities.

If anyone is looking for a fluent Persian speaker with deep knowledge of Iran and the region and experience landing complicated investigations, features, scoops, and analysis pieces, please reach out. I'm on Signal at yjtorbati.94

If you are lucky enough to know @siobhan_ogrady as a friend, & even luckier to know her work, you know that few journalists have dedicated their lives & themselves so completely to public service, years in Ukraine just the latest. @JeffBezos @washingtonpost will forever regret it