The bridge across all of our programs is the desire to change United States policies that impact the people we work with. Extreme poverty and vulnerability in Haiti and Nicaragua lead families to make the heartbreaking decision to migrate, to the United States or elsewhere. Our priority is addressing the root causes of migration in Haiti and Nicaragua. At the same time, we believe that we must insist on fair policies in the United States that promote the dignity of migrants. Current priorities:
End Title 42 and Remain in Mexico, and secure asylum once again at our borders
Work in solidarity with migrants traveling in Central America and Mexico
Bring a social justice framework to the United States’ policies that impact our partners in Haiti and Nicaragua, with an emphasis on non-intervention.
The Quixote Center stands in solidarity with people who are incarcerated in the United States and who are currently engaged in collective actions to raise awareness about the conditions of incarceration and demanding change.
We endorse the 10 point platform of the National Prison Strike:
President Trump has nominated Kathy Kraninger to be the next director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Kraninger has very little experience for this post. Currently, she works for the Office of Management and Budget overseeing program planning and implementation for the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice. As a result, she has been a key player in coordinating immigration policy, especially the “zero tolerance” policy that led to thousands of children being separated from family members.
A new series in which we (will aspire to) offer a sampling of today’s headlines on immigration, race, and related stories.
An article in The Hill discusses the impact of Attorney General Session’s recent decisions to reopen 8,000 immigration cases, which had been administratively closed, on judicial independence.
The Trump administration is waging a war on immigrants with many fronts, including: Adopting "zero tolerance" policies at the border, expanding detention, seeking ways to limit legal immigration, making it harder for people to become permanent residents and citizens, and launching a massive review of people who have become naturalized citizens. On all fronts, Trump’s war is being waged using existing policy instruments and institutions. We must acknowledge this reality - as the entire system is deeply flawed.
Yesterday, ahead of today's 1:00 p.m.
On Tuesday, an employee of Southwest Key (a nonprofit contractor that operates shelters for migrant children, including the now infamous Casa Padre) was arrested for molestation, aggravated assault, and sexual abuse after confessing to touching and kissing a 14-year-old girl at one of Southwest Key’s Phoenix area facilities.
This week, the Trump administration missed a court appointed deadline to reunite children separated from families as a result of the administration’s “zero tolerance” policy.
House Resolution 981 calls on the U.S. government to more aggressively employ the Magnitsky Act as a means to sanction individual members of the Nicaraguan government, while also condemning violence in Nicaragua. The stated goal is to support democracy, but the text of the resolution is not based on a balanced accounting of what has transpired in the country over the last three months.
Last Wednesday Trump signed an executive order to end the policy of separating children from families at the border. The order still mandates that children be put in detention with family members, and does not apply to the over 2,300 children who have already been separated in recent weeks - in total, over 10,000 children are currently in detention. Some of these children may never see their parents again.
In an effort to become more effective advocates on questions related to immigration, several team members at the Quixote Center have joined Sanctuary DMV as trained acompañantes. Accompaniment involves showing up to support our immigrant neighbors when they must engage with government authorities - or even private contractors - to comply with their immigration proceedings.
I don't need to repeat all the bad news on immigration this week (although I may do a little of that). Instead, I'll begin by focusing on how grassroots activists, advocacy groups, and even some politicians are organizing to quash the oppressive and inhumane policies being propagated by the executive branch in the name of spurious national security interests.
