In a memo to staff on Thursday, U.S. News Director Josh Hoffner announced several new roles on AP’s immigration team:
I am thrilled to announce several new roles on our award-winning immigration team, allowing AP to expand coverage of a topic that will be the one of the biggest story lines of 2025 and beyond. These moves mark the latest exciting new chapter for a team that for more than a decade has chronicled the story of immigration with ambition, sweep, global reach and award-winning visual journalism. Case in point: Our 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography and our various accolades in the preceding decade.
Elliot Spagat is becoming news editor for the team and taking on an expanded role in which he will have three journalists reporting to him and covering the biggest immigration stories of the day. Few people in the industry are as knowledgeable and deeply sourced on immigration, and we are incredibly excited about him guiding this new and revamped team. He is a beloved colleague to so many AP journalists and epitomizes the teamwork and selflessness and passion for fact-based journalism that are the hallmarks of the AP. He will continue to report to Deputy U.S. News Director for Reporting Teams Sarah Rafi, whose deft leadership and ability to marshal resources across the AP has paved the way for so many successes over the last two years.
The core immigration team members will be:
Gisela Salomon: Gisela is a longtime member of AP’s Latin America staff and joins the immigration team with a long track record of telling the stories of immigrants and their communities. Her sourcing in various immigrant communities in Florida and beyond is second to none and has regularly allowed her to exclusively shine a light on the impact of immigration policies on real people. She will remain based in Miami.
Valerie Gonzalez: Valerie joined the AP’s Texas staff last year and made an immediate impact from her location in McAllen, Texas. With her presence in the Rio Grande Valley and her vast knowledge of the border, she is uniquely suited to tell the story of immigration for a global audience in a way that few other news organizations can match.
Tim Sullivan: Tim is veteran AP journalist who was a correspondent in West Africa and India for two decades before moving to U.S. His international experience, superb writing and reporting skills, track record on major enterprise stories over the last five years like politics and COVID-19 and vision in framing the day’s news in a big way make him a terrific addition to the team. He will remain based in Minneapolis.
And of course, the beauty of AP’s immigration coverage is that we are at our best when we collaborate across teams, including reporters covering Homeland Security, the White House and other beats in Washington, and cross-format journalists in Latin America, the 50 states and other global regions. We will continue to work with colleagues across our vast footprint to tell this important story and welcome everyone’s participation.
