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 .

Find out more about our Solidarity Travel Program .

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

Statements from our partners

Read the statement February 2025 in y en . 

Read the Panama statement February 2025  y en . 

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

Read November 22nd, 2024 statement from the https://redfranciscana.org/en/'s National Assembly in Mexico .  

Reports from Solidarity Trips

Participants from our March 2025 trip to Panama hosted a webinar titled Stranded and Forgotten. You can listen to it .

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

  

 

Location of Shelters in the Franciscan Network on Migration

Texas' Attorney General: Refugee children are not welcome

Fri, 03/11/2022 - 6:13pm by Tom

“‘He won over everyone with his smile, fearlessness and determination worthy of a real hero,' the statement said. It is unclear why the boy was unaccompanied.”

The story of an 11-year-old boy, who was put on a train to Slovakia by his parents so he could get out of Ukraine, was who called him a “hero of the night.”

The long arm of US border policy

Fri, 02/25/2022 - 1:39pm by Tom

"We are looking for a way to get out of Chiapas because in Chiapas there is no way to live because people are treating you like animals, your rights are being violated. So if we are refugees we are fighting so that we can get out and looking for a way to live so that we can eat.” —Haitian migrant to the Colectivo de Observación y Monitoreo de Derechos Humanos en el Sureste Méxicano, August 2021.

Biden has deported nearly as many Haitians in his first year as the last three presidents - combined

Fri, 02/18/2022 - 3:23pm by Tom

Biden has expelled nearly as many Haitians in 12 months (20,200+) as were deported during the previous 20 years (22,000-23,000)*** under three different presidents. Indeed, Biden’s administration has likely expelled far more: In addition to these official removal numbers, another estimated 8,000 Haitians were expelled back into Mexico in September of 2021, voluntarily according to DHS Secretary Mayorkas, but in circumstances that make that characterization suspect.

Stop the Deportation Flights artwork.

Haiti's Biden Problem

Fri, 01/28/2022 - 1:29pm by Tom

The Biden Administration deported more than 16,000 Haitian refugees between September 19, 2021 and January 25, 2022. A large portion of these expulsions are family groups; nearly 20% of those expelled are children. The obscenity of expelling refugee children, some as young as 15 days old, would seem to require no complicated exegesis to demonstrate. It is quite obviously the wrong thing to do. Yet, Biden persists.

Flight Eastern 3503, taking Haitian refugees from El Paso to Port au Prince, Jan. 12, 2022.

Biden marks anniversary of earthquake by expelling more Haitian refugees

Wed, 01/12/2022 - 4:06pm by Tom

Twelve years ago today, a massive earthquake brought down buildings throughout the Port au Prince area, killing hundreds of thousands of people and displacing many more. As a result, January 12 is a national day of mourning in Haiti.

For the United States it is just another day to expel Haitian refugees - 443 Haitians were expelled today on three flights. 

Despite ongoing crises in Haiti, Biden keeps expelling Haitians from the US

Tue, 12/21/2021 - 3:54pm by Tom

On Monday, December 20, the Biden administration sent three removal flights back to Haiti, with over 340 people on them including 32 children. As we move into Christmas week the administration plans to send planes every day back to Haiti, except for Christmas eve. Since taking office, the Biden administration has removed over 14,000 people to Haiti; at least 11,100 since mid-September. 

Mexican Advocates Decry Conditions of Migrants in Puebla Sports Center

Thu, 12/16/2021 - 1:01am by Alexandra

This week, our partners in Mexico released a statement denouncing the inhumane conditions in which migrants, including pregnant women and children, have been overcrowded in a sports center in Puebla, Mexico. To read the original statement in Spanish, click . 

TO THE FEDERAL, STATE, AND LOCAL AUTHORITIES 

MUNICIPALITIES OF THE STATE OF PUEBLA

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