Quixote Center recognizes migration as a fundamental human right that also benefits the communities that receive them. Beyond their economic contribution, the integration of people from all over the world enriches the cultural diversity and strengthens the social fabric of the United States, a nation built by migrants for migrants. 

The Quixote Center’s principal international partnership is with the Franciscan Network for Migrants (FNM). The Franciscan Network for Migrants is an effort to connect shelters run by Franciscan orders which provide humanitarian assistance to migrants who are traveling through Mexico, Central and South America. We serve as the fiscal sponsor for the Franciscan Network for Migrants within the United States, and coordinate advocacy efforts with their staff.  

Quixote Center and FNM organize Solidarity Trips every six months since 2022 as part of our advocacy, bringing U.S. based migrant justice professionals to Southern Mexico and Panama to see firsthand how the U.S. border externalization policies impact the lives of hundreds of thousands of people trying to seek refuge in the United States. 

Find out more about our Solidarity Travel Program .

As a result of our 2024 Solidarity Trip to Panama, we are currently working with the FNM Panama team on a Training of Trainers program to equip volunteers to provide spiritual accompaniment and observe that the human rights of migrants are respected in the Darien where FNM has established a permanent presence in the community of Bajo Chiquito.

Statements

Read March 11, 2025's Executive Decree from Panamanian President Jose Mulino en

Read the Red Clamor statement February 2025 in y en . 

Read the Red Clamor Panama statement February 2025 . 
Read the Red Clamor Panama statement February 2025 in Spanish . 

Read January 21st, 2025 Joint Statement with our partners at the Franciscan Network on Migration  

Read November 22nd, 2024 statement from the Franciscan Network on Migration's National Assembly in Mexico .  

Reports

Participants from the March 2024 trip wrote the report:  to denounce US efforts to further externalize US border to Panama.  

  

 

History of the Program

The Quixote Center launched the Migrant Justice program in 2018 to demand justice for migrants at the US border, within the United States and throughout their journey. We worked to end immigrant detention, and defended the right to asylum, which has been eroded over the last several years. We also partnered with organizations who work with migrants in the United States and in Latin America, organizing webinars and publishing reports.

Location of Shelters in the Franciscan Network on Migration

Update: #FreeThemAll Campaign

Thu, 05/07/2020 - 2:06pm by Tom


Protesters drive in a caravan around Immigration and Customs Enforcement El Paso Processing Center to demand the release of detainees due to safety concerns amidst the COVID-19 outbreak on April 16, 2020, in El Paso, Texas. Photo Credit: Photo by Paul Ratje / Agence France-Presse / AFP

Situation of shelters in the Franciscan Network on Migration during COVID-19

Fri, 04/10/2020 - 3:00pm by Tom

The Franciscan Network for Migrants (RFM) emerged in April 2018 during the annual Justice, Peace, and the Integrity of Creation Course, held in Guadalajara, Mexico. During 2019, the Network took form, organized with four original houses for migrants belonging to the Order: La 72 (Mexico), The Migrant Center of New York (USA), Comedor para Migrantes San Francisco (Mexico) and Pilgrims’ house of the Migrant “Santo Hermano Pedro” (Guatemala). 

ICE detentions are way down this month. That is not all good news.

Thu, 04/09/2020 - 5:00pm by Tom

According to , on March 21 ICE was holding just over 38,000 people. On March 28 the number was down to 35,671; by April 4 the number was 33,863. Which means over the last two weeks the number of people in ICE detentions has fallen by 4,200, or just over 11%. As we, and many other people have been advocating releases, this seems like good news.

Mexico’s detention network is human rights disaster - and U.S. policy is making it worse

Tue, 04/07/2020 - 11:05am by Tom

At all times, and certainly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the governments of Mexico and the U.S. must protect the rights of migrants. In the current context of a global pandemic, both governments must halt enforcement actions and deportations, and release people from detention facilities where their lives are endangered by overcrowded and unsanitary conditions.

La 72, Franciscan Network on Migration and others, denounce Mexican immigration authorities after death in custody

Fri, 04/03/2020 - 4:05pm by Tom


Firefighters on the scene. Image/La 72

Héctor Rolando Barrientos Dardón died on Tuesday during a fire at the Tenosique Migration Station, an immigrant detention facility near Mexico’s border with Guatemala in the state of Tabasco. His death occurred during a protest by several men who were denouncing their ongoing detention in the overcrowded facility, a situation which puts their lives at risk in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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