Immigration coverage in New York state

Isabelle Taft

Isabelle Taft covers immigration for New York Focus through Report for America. Prior to joining Focus, she was a reporting fellow on the National desk at the New York Times, covering breaking news around the United States and writing about criminal justice, higher education and immigration. Before that, she spent four years in Mississippi reporting for Mississippi Today, the Biloxi Sun Herald and ProPublica. Her investigation into Mississippi's practice of jailing people with no criminal charges to await mental health treatment helped lead lawmakers to overhaul the involuntary commitment process there. Taft's first full-time journalism job was copy editing at Viet Nam News in Hanoi. She speaks Spanish and is proud to be from Atlanta.

New York Focus

New York Focus unmasks power in the Empire State. As the only nonprofit publication with an emphasis on state-level coverage, we produce deeply reported, investigative stories on the systems, decisions and actors that affect communities throughout New York. While most local accountability coverage is directed at New York City, we keep an eye on Albany — the notoriously corrupt and quietly impactful center of power throughout the state.