Yeganeh Torbati
Yeganeh Torbati is a former ProPublica reporter. She covered the U.S. federal government.
Yeganeh Torbati is a former ProPublica reporter who covered the U.S. federal government. Before joining ProPublica in June 2019, she covered immigration at Reuters. She was the first to reveal in 2018 the Trump administration’s detailed plans to penalize foreigners who use public benefits by making it harder for them to get green cards, and her narrative feature about a library on the U.S.-Canada border that plays host to reunions of families separated by the travel ban was adapted for a segment on “This American Life.”
In her previous role as a national security reporter for Reuters, Yeganeh was part of a reporting team that won a National Press Club award in 2017 for a series on a prisoner swap between Iran and the United States. As a reporter covering Iran, she was part of a Reuters reporting team that uncovered the financial empire controlled by the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in 2013. The series received numerous awards including the Gerald Loeb Award and the Overseas Press Club Award.
Yeganeh grew up in Oklahoma, and speaks Persian and Spanish. To securely send Yeganeh documents or other files online, please visit our SecureDrop page.
How Mike Pence’s Office Meddled in Foreign Aid to Reroute Money to Favored Christian Groups
Officials at USAID warned that favoring Christian groups in Iraq could be unconstitutional and inflame religious tensions. When one colleague lost her job, they said she had been “Penced.”
The Trump Administration Issues Dozens of Corrections to Its Error-Riddled Immigration Rule
Just weeks before a sweeping immigration policy takes effect, the administration is correcting substantive errors, including ones uncovered by ProPublica that would have had big impacts on military families.
Google Says Google Translate Can’t Replace Human Translators. Immigration Officials Have Used It to Vet Refugees.
Documents shared with ProPublica show that immigration officials have been told to vet refugees’ social media posts using Google Translate. Language experts caution even students against using the service.
The Administration Rushed on a Sweeping Immigration Policy. We Found Substantive, Sloppy Mistakes.
Trump’s new immigration policy applies more harshly to families of U.S. citizens in the military than to families of noncitizens in the military. Experts think it’s an error that suggests officials are pushing policies even they don’t fully understand.
“No Comment”: Emails Show the VA Took No Action to Spare Veterans From a Harsh Trump Immigration Policy
The VA’s approach differs sharply from the Pentagon’s, which won an exemption for active-duty members of the military.
It’s Illegal for Federal Officials to Campaign at Work. A Trump Official Just Did So.
A trend may be emerging after the Trump administration took no action against a “repeat offender,” White House counselor Kellyanne Conway.