Quixote Center recognizes migration as a fundamental human right under international law. In the United States, migrants strengthen our economy, enrich our culture, and strengthen our social fabric.
Quixote Center’s principal international partnership is with the Red Franciscana para Migrantes (RFM - Franciscan Network for Migrants). RFM connects Franciscan-run shelters and other humanitarian assistance programs for migrants who are making the dangerous trek through Mexico, Central America, and South America. We support RFM by
Quixote Center and RFM organize Solidarity Trips since 2022 as part of our advocacy and education mission, bringing U.S. based migrant justice activists and other professionals to Southern Mexico and Panama to see firsthand how the U.S. immigration impact the lives of hundreds of thousands of people fleeing their homelands to seek a new life, in the United States or elsewhere.
View our Between Borders video series HERE.
Find out more about our Solidarity Travel Program HERE.
U.S. immigration policy is a mess. This has been true for some time, but current admissions policies have placed the ailing system on life support. The administration has taken an aggressive approach to curtailing legal immigration and existing humanitarian pathways while also stripping status from people who are already here through legal, protective pathways.
This isn’t what we think it is.
Criminal deportation is commonly understood in more urgent contexts. A person comes here, commits and crime and is deported as part of their hearing. Or maybe they are removed from a prison here and extradited there. But, current immigration law puts no statute of limitations on crimes committed. With a shocking lack of due process, people can be sent to third countries and mass prisons (like CECOT), even after serving time and making restitution.
“Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” -- Fred Rogers
Nory is the founder of the Paso Canoas Meal Program on the Panama/Costa Rica border. Her story is one we have heard again and again across migration routes throughout the Americas: ordinary people seeing great need around them and choosing to act.
What began eight years ago continues today, serving hundreds of migrants living Between Borders every month.
Jose left Venezuela to save his livelihood and search for a more hopeful future. A family farm that once sustained them no longer can, as the country's political and economic crises are making it harder to survive.
He crossed South and Central America, making his way north to seek asylum in San Diego. Now, he is in Panama, stranded between borders, with no clear way forward and no safe passage out.
Erick first left Guatemala as a teenager in 2004, after being threatened by gangs and fearing for his future. He made the journey to the United States to stay with his siblings and try to build a life.
His journey was not easy. He has been kidnapped, robbed, and mistreated. He has been deported several times, but cannot safely remain in his home country.
Today, he is staying at La 72 Hogar-Refugio para Personas Migrantes (one of our partners in Tenosique, Tabasco, Mexico)
Melona fled Eritrea, later lived in Ethiopia, and began a journey toward safety in the United States. While seeking asylum, she was deported to Panama where she spent months confined in a hotel and dangerous camps, and is now staying in an RFM shelter without a clear path forward.
Her story reflects the hope that drives migration and the reality many face on the way.
Newtown Action Alliance Lunch & Lobby on the ARMAS Act
March 2nd, 2026 at 12:00pm & 8:00pm EST
Watch the recording of this virtual event HERE
Participants from our March 2025 trip to Panama hosted a webinar titled Stranded and Forgotten. You can listen to it HERE.
During the final days of Quixote Center’s trip to southern Mexico, we visited Tapachula, Chiapas, just 30 minutes from the Guatemalan border. Over the past several years, Tapachula has become a major immigration processing hub. Because the United States has all but halted processing of asylum and refugee applications, significant numbers of migrants are choosing to stay in Mexico, either permanently, or until they can enter the United States.
Quixote Center staff spent 5 days in southern Mexico a few weeks ago to see for ourselves how US border policies are impacting the rest of the Americas.
On our second day we traveled to Tenosique, in the State of Tabasco, located near the border with Guatemala. Tenosique is home to the La72 migrant shelter, a member of the Franciscan Network on Migration and long-term Quixote Center collaborators.
From May 27 to June 3, Quixote Center traveled to southern Mexico to meet with local partners and assess the human impact of the United States' increasingly aggressive immigration enforcement policies, including mass detention and deportation.
What we witnessed was a growing humanitarian crisis, one that is leaving thousands of vulnerable people stranded, homeless, and without support.
