The U.S. Border in Panama
Under pressure from the US, and with a large financial incentive, Panama is attempting to control the flow of migrants in its territory through deterrence and deportations.
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.
Location of Shelters in the Franciscan Network on Migration
Location of Shelters in the Franciscan Network on Migration
Prophets and Mystics
…recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world…
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UNDHR), Preamble
Defending human rights is a political act. Without respect for human rights, democracy crumbles and stability gives way to civil unrest, insecurity, and migration, as people do what they feel they have to do to survive.
TPS for Venezuela Statement
Deterrence is a Failed Policy: TPS and Expanded Pathways are the Way Forward
People Walk to America
The kid with the neck tattoo of bright red lips, I won’t soon forget him. It wasn’t the neck tattoo of a tough guy or a gang member, but the playful tattoo of a baby-faced teenager. I bet I will run into him someday in the U.S., but I first met him near the Guatemala/Mexico border in June.
When Does Cruelty Towards Migrants Go Too Far?
“I believe we…have stepped over a line into the [inhumane],” wrote the Texas state trooper who reported that his superiors ordered troopers to push migrants, including women and children, back into the Rio Grande.
Statement on New Family Reunification Program
Quixote Center Applauds President Biden on New Family Reunification Program
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 12, 2023
Contact: alexandra@quixote.org | 301-699-0042
The Human Cost of Biden’s Asylum Policies
The United States is quietly tearing its asylum system apart, endangering the lives of thousands of civilians and generating the confusion and immense human suffering that immigration advocates predicted.
Opening Panama's Only Non-Profit Shelter
In partnership with Quixote Center, the Panama team of the Franciscan Network for Migrants (FNM) is inaugurating the country's only non-profit migrant shelter.
Cruelty at the Border is not Success
The media predicted a massive surge at the U.S. border after the Biden Administration finally put an end to Title 42, and now outlets are scrambling to understand why this failed to materialize.
The reality is that migrants, advocates and even border officials, are unsure of what happens next. This drop at the border is no measure of success, but is rather evidence of a deep failure on the part of the United States to honor its commitment to provide safe refuge to people fleeing danger.
The Asylum Process Has Been Decimated