Maria Sacchetti

Washington, D.C.

Reporter covering immigrant communities and Immigration and Customs Enforcement Education: University of Massachusetts at Amherst, BA in journalism; University of Texas at Austin, MA in Latin American studies

 Maria Sacchetti covers immigration for The Washington Post. She previously reported for the Boston Globe, where her reporting led to the release of several immigrants from jail. She investigated the secrecy surrounding the U.S. immigration system and covered the deportation hearings of President Barack Obama's Kenyan relatives. She was a member of the Boston Globe staff that shared in the Pulitzer Prize for reporting on the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings.

Overseas, she covered the refugee crisis in Europe in 2015, the Haiti earthquake in 2010, and traveled to Brazil, Guatemala, Colombia and Ecuador on assignment. She received the 2015 French-American Foundation's Immigration Journalism Award for her article "The Unforgotten," about hundreds, possibly thousands, of immigrants missing along the southern U.S. border.

Before the Globe, she investigated the education of Latino schoolchildren for the Orange County Register in California, which led to an initiative to improve their education. She has lived and worked in Puerto Rico and Costa Rica and spent a summer in Colombia. In Puerto Rico, she covered the legislature and multiple hurricanes. In Costa Rica, she covered five hostage situations, including the sieges on the Nicaraguan embassy and the Costa Rica Supreme Court.

Latest from Maria Sacchetti

Federal judge calls Friday filing by HHS ‘cover’ for its failings in reunification process

In an unscheduled hearing, a San Diego judge berates HHS for implying his deadlines might endanger migrant children being reunified with their parents.

Jul 14, 2018

Government says it will reunite up to 200 migrant children a day with their parents

The Trump administration told a federal judge it is working on the cases of 2,500 children.

Jul 13, 2018

Trump officials: Nearly half of young migrants ineligible to reunite with parents

A federal judge had ordered the government to return 103 children to their parents by Tuesday.

Jul 12, 2018

Some children are returned to parents, but judge tells Trump officials to move faster

Government lawyers say dozens of young children separated from their parents are not eligible to be reunited.

Jul 10, 2018

More than 50 separated children to be reunited with parents Tuesday

Justice Department lawyers say more than half of children 4 and younger will be returned to their parents by Tuesday, while it won’t meet the deadline for 40 others.

Jul 9, 2018

‘If we’re all together, I can handle it’

Migrants at border find delays and danger at both legal, illegal entry points.

Jul 9, 2018

Trump administration seeks more time to reunite some migrant families split at border

In their court filing, Justice Department officials said they would propose an alternative timeline for reuniting all families, but they did not specify what that would be.

Jul 6, 2018

HHS secretary says Trump administration rushing to reunite migrant families separated at the border

The government has dispatched hundreds of workers to match children split from their parents. Separately, new data show border arrests were down in June.

Jul 5, 2018

ACLU slaps Trump administration over parent deportation form

Advocates say parents may opt to self-deport to regain custody of children held in federal shelters.

Jul 3, 2018

Going home to El Salvador, as the American dream slips away

Guillermo Mendoza, who will soon lose his permission to live in the United States legally, returned to El Salvador after 18 years to see loved ones and contemplate building a life there.

May 30, 2018