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
- Serving as the fiscal sponsor for RFM within the United States and coordinating advocacy efforts with their staff.
- Providing on-going financial support to RFM programs in Panama, a particularly strategic and difficult migrant crossing point.
- Offering capacity-strengthening funding to RFM teams, so far supporting teams in Colombia, Brazil, and Mexico.
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.
Partners
Partners
RFM - Red Franciscana para Migrantes (Franciscan Network for Migrants)
The Franciscan Network for Migrants (RFM) is a network of individuals and service centers across the Americas that, inspired by Franciscan spirituality, reach out to migrants to support, promote, protect, and defend their rights in their respective countries of origin, transit, and destination.
Resources
Resources
Statements from our partners
Read the Red Clamor statement February 2025 in English HERE y en Español AQUI.
Read the Red Clamor Panama statement February 2025 HERE y en Español AQUI.
Read January 21st, 2025 Joint Statement with our partners at the Franciscan Network on Migration here
Read November 22nd, 2024 statement from the https://redfranciscana.org/en/Franciscan Network on Migration's National Assembly in Mexico here.
Reports from Solidarity Trips
Participants from our March 2025 trip to Panama hosted a webinar titled Stranded and Forgotten. You can listen to it HERE.
Participants from the March 2024 trip wrote the report: Danger in the Darién Gap: Human RIghts Abuses and the Need for Human Pathways to Safety to denounce US efforts to further externalize US border to Panama.
Location of Shelters in the Franciscan Network on Migration
Location of Shelters in the Franciscan Network on Migration
Sure, Biden never called Haiti a “shithole country.” So, why is he treating it like one?
Back in January of 2018, Donald Trump was being briefed by Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) about a compromise proposal to cut the visa lottery system, while reallocating the difference to underrepresented countries in Africa and Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders, such as Haiti.
Haiti News from Congress to Harvard Law School to the Border
Congress and Haiti this week
This week, 69 members of congress sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken asking for a review of U.S. policy toward Haiti. From the Miami Herald,
La 72 Celebrates 10th Anniversary April 23
ACOMPAÑANOS A CELEBRAR NUESTROS 10 AÑOS DE ACOGER, PROTEGER, INTEGRAR, Y PROMOVER LOS DERECHOS HUMANOS DE LAS PERSONAS EN MOVILIDAD.
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JOIN US IN CELEBRATING 10 YEARS OF WELCOMING, PROTECTING, INTEGRATING, AND PROMOTING HUMAN RIGHTS FOR MIGRANTS AND REFUGEES.
Earth Day Reflection on Ecological Debt and Human Mobility
Designed by Robert A. Jackson III[/caption]
Biden must halt expulsions to Haiti
Yesterday morning I had two messages on Haiti in my inbox. One noting that the 27th removal flight to Haiti since February 1, 2021 was scheduled to land in Port-au-Prince later that afternoon. The other message was about a gang attack in the Marin 26 neighborhood in Croix-des-Bouquets not far from the airport in Port au Prince. On Wednesday this week (April 7), three young men were shot and at least one of them beheaded.
Border Update: March numbers and what they show
In March the Border Patrol “encountered” 172,000 people - the highest monthly total in years. This surpasses the June 2019 peak of close to 150,000 under the Trump administration, the highest level in over ten years at the time. As we reported last Friday, however, there are some significant differences between now and 2019.
Demand Justice for Victoria Esperanza Salazar Arriaza
[caption id="attachment_9270" align="alignright" width="1580"]
Photo: Red Franciscana para Migrantes[/caption]
At the border: 2019 was worse. What can we learn from this?
CNN reported on Thursday, April 1, “There were about 17,650 unaccompanied migrant children in US government custody….including 5,767 in CBP custody.” So, 5,767 in Border Patrol custody, leaving “about” 11,883 in the custody of Health and Human Services (or in the process of being transferred into HHS custody).
Media Release: The Invisible Wall: New Report on Title 42 and impact on Haitian migrants
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact:
Nicole Phillips, Legal Director, Haitiian Bridge Alliance, nmp.law@gmail.com, +1 (510) 715-2855
Tom Ricker, Policy Director, The Quixote Center, tomr.quixote@gmail.com, (301) 922-8909
Biden’s Invisible Wall: New Report Describes the Hardships that Title 42 Expulsions Create for Haitian Migrant Families and Calls on Biden to Stop Expelling Migrants to Haiti
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss?
The Biden administration has negotiated an agreement with the government of Mexico for expanded immigration enforcement within Mexico in order to keep unaccompanied children and other migrants away from the U.S./Mexico border. From Reuters: