Monica Campbell

Senior Editor/Reporter

Monica Campbell is a former senior immigration editor and reporter at The World. She reported for The World from Mexico, Cuba, Portugal, Haiti and Afghanistan, as well as California.

Monica Campbell is a former senior editor/reporter at The World, who focused on immigration and immigrant life in the United States. She worked with a network of journalists based throughout the country, and elsewhere in the world, to uncover how shifting US demographics are changing everything from culture to politics.

Before joining The World, Campbell reported internationally from Latin America and the Caribbean from 2003 to 2009 and then again from 2015 to 2017. She has also reported Europe and Afghanistan. From her base in Mexico City, Campbell’s stories ranged from indigenous education along Nicaragua’s Mosquito Coast and the investigation of civil war crimes in Guatemala to Mexico’s rising drug cartel-related violence and dissident poets in Cuba.

She also served as the Mexico representative for the Committee to Protect Journalists and is a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.

In 2010, she was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University.  

Campbell has a master’s degree in Latin American Studies from New York University and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from San Jose State University.

In Pestel, Haiti, on the country's southern peninsula, Jean-Robert Leger, left, brings in a boat that is a bit smaller than the one he has attempted in to sail to the United States, along with many other migrants aboard.

Haitians deported from the US face a stark reality back home. Some are making plans to migrate again.

Many Haitian migrants are having to start all over again, without anything back at home, while others are still trying to figure out how to reach the US.

Haitians deported from the US face a stark reality back home. Some are making plans to migrate again.
Mackenson Rémy, a popular reporter, is a fixture in Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital. All sorts of people call him, from business executives to politicians, interested in hearing about the traffic situation as the city wakes up.

Meet the trusted guide to Port-au-Prince’s streets

Meet the trusted guide to Port-au-Prince’s streets
A man balances his motorbike tank on his head as he waits outside a gas station in hopes of filling his tank, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Oct. 23, 2021. The ongoing fuel shortage has worsened, with demonstrators blocking roads and burning tires in Haiti'

Haiti’s rival gangs hold a firm grip on fuel supply, testing life at every level

Haiti’s rival gangs hold a firm grip on fuel supply, testing life at every level
A Taliban fighter walks on the side of a road as a Humvee carrying other fighters drives by in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sept. 21, 2021.

'We are still here': Afghan UN employees worry about their safety

'We are still here': Afghan UN employees worry about their safety
Families evacuated from Kabul, Afghanistan, walk through the terminal before boarding a bus after they arrived at Washington Dulles International Airport, in Chantilly, Virginia, Aug. 27, 2021.

Afghan families are being rapidly resettled in the US. But adjusting to their new lives will take years.  

Afghan families are being rapidly resettled in the US. But adjusting to their new lives will take years.  
Taliban fighters patrol in Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug. 19, 2021.

This Afghan interpreter helped the US Army Special Forces. He’s desperate to get out of Afghanistan.

Ever since the US entered Afghanistan, it has hired thousands of Afghan interpreters. Now, as the Taliban have taken over the country, many of these Afghans fear being left behind.

This Afghan interpreter helped the US Army Special Forces. He’s desperate to get out of Afghanistan.
Dinora Hernandez’s three children make bracelets at home in Oakland, California. Every Tuesday, Hernandez heads to a local food bank, assistance that allows her to wire cash to family in El Salvador.

'I want to send more money home’: Remittances are a sign of sacrifice, resilience in immigrant communities during pandemic

In all, people worldwide sent a total of $540 billion home last year, only dropping by 1.6% from 2019 — a smaller drop than during the 2009 global financial crash. 

'I want to send more money home’: Remittances are a sign of sacrifice, resilience in immigrant communities during pandemic
Figures of a 7-year-old migrant girl walking with a woman and unidentified man silhouetted at night

Many asylum-seekers are returned at the US-Mexico border under Title 42. Advocates call it a ‘sham.’

A bottleneck continues to build in Mexico near the US-Mexico border, as a public health order invoked by the Trump administration remains in place and shuts out many migrants and asylum-seekers from entering the United States.

Many asylum-seekers are returned at the US-Mexico border under Title 42. Advocates call it a ‘sham.’
A hand holds up a cartoon in front of the Capitol dome of the Statue of Liberty hugging a Muslim hijabi girl.

Refugees stuck in limbo over Biden's inaction to restore admissions program

Many refugees have already been vetted and approved for entry, but President Joe Biden has yet to make an official commitment to rebuilding the US refugee program. 

Refugees stuck in limbo over Biden's inaction to restore admissions program
A soldier in uniform stands next to a man in a military vehicle with rugged mountains in the background.

Afghan interpreters languish in visa limbo as US coalitions return home

Mohammad, an Afghan interpreter, cleared big hurdles to get a Special Immigrant Visa, which is available to Afghans who have assisted US missions. He was killed by the Taliban before his visa was approved. 

Afghan interpreters languish in visa limbo as US coalitions return home
n this Aug. 30, 2019, photo, migrants, most who were returned to Mexico under the Trump administration’s “Remain in Mexico” program, receive bottles of water given by volunteers in an encampment near the Gateway International Bridge in Matamoros, Mexico.

Why Biden’s day one promise to end ‘Remain in Mexico’ program may go unfilled

On the campaign trail, candidate Joe Biden pledged to end the Trump administration's "Remain in Mexico" program on day one. But the president-elect has walked back that promise in recent weeks.

Why Biden’s day one promise to end ‘Remain in Mexico’ program may go unfilled
In this photo from July 28, 2019, a woman from Nicaragua embraces a man from Africa under the patio floodlights at El Buen Pastor shelter for migrants in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.

At US-Mexico border, asylum-seekers watch election returns for signs of change

For those stranded, the stakes of the US presidential contest could not be higher. But policy reforms are likely to take months, at the earliest.

At US-Mexico border, asylum-seekers watch election returns for signs of change
In this July 30, 2018, file photo, the setting sun is reddened by smoke from a wildfire over a vineyard, in Finley, California.

Amid wildfires, US farmworkers labor with few protections

Notoriously weak labor regulations have kept farmworkers, many of them immigrants, breathing smoke from nearby wildfires as they work all along the West Coast. Many are afraid to speak up.

Amid wildfires, US farmworkers labor with few protections
A farmworker, considered an essential worker under the current COVID-19 pandemic, harvests beans, May 12, 2020, in Homestead, Florida.

Farmworkers are getting coronavirus. They face retaliation for demanding safe conditions.

The situation at Primex Farms highlights the tightrope farmworkers must walk to protect their health and jobs while avoiding retaliation from their employers.

Farmworkers are getting coronavirus. They face retaliation for demanding safe conditions.
Chanthon Bun, who was incarcerated for 23 years, part of that time in San Quentin State Prison in California, shows artwork from an origami course offered in the prison.

He's out of prison and has COVID-19. But he's still sheltering from ICE.

After spending almost his entire adult life in a cell, Chanthon Bun was released from prison July 1 and expected to be put in ICE custody for potential deportation. But ICE agents never showed up — and it may be due to a public campaign to keep immigrants out of ICE detention during the coronavirus pandemic.

He's out of prison and has COVID-19. But he's still sheltering from ICE.