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
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.
On our last trip to Panama, we met *Mateo's father, who tearfully told us about his separation from his teenage son, and eventual deportation. They had deportation orders to Venezuela, their home country, but neither had lived there in many years.
The two were detained separately for months, and deported, separately, to different countries. As Mateo made the dangerous journey from Mexico to Panama, his father anxiously waited and hoped for their reunion.
This week Quixote Center learned that the town of Gros Morne, Haiti, the location of our long-term partnerships, was the victim of a horrific gang massacre. Haiti’s criminal gangs utilize weapons they obtain illegally from the United States.
The US administration has unleashed ICE into the streets of Springfield to target Haitians who had their legal status stripped away. Many leave immigration check-ins with ankle monitors. Haitians are so far the only group to be humiliated that way, and it is also the first time these devices are deployed on non-criminals.
ICE also detained pastors Adrien and Dumano, two Haitian leaders who have lived in the US for over a decade and who provided essential spiritual and mental health support to the community.
As violence, displacement, and political instability continue to reshape the Americas, people across the region remain determined to find safety for themselves and their families. No immigration crackdown can erase that reality.
Javi* stopped by the Paso Canoas meal program on his way back to Venezuela after being deported by the United States. He made the difficult journey through the Darien Gap, and now must do so again to return home. Our partners at RFM Panama spent a few minutes with Javi* to find out more about his journey, his experience in the United States, and his hopes for the future.
Take a couple of minutes to learn what Javi's life has been like, between borders.
There is nothing wrong with wanting a secure border. It is an essential function of a country to be able to choose who may enter and remain within its confines, but that is only the first of many layers that make this issue so complex. As the previous blogs explained, the issue also includes who is being allowed into the country, the prioritization of white South African Afrikaners over all other refugee groups, and the revocation of legal protections for people who entered through established humanitarian pathways, forcing many to return to countries that remain unsafe.
Leo* is a young, single father who was deported after a routine traffic stop. We met and interviewed him during our most recent trip to Mexico. He is trying to make his way back to the US because his 8-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son are still here.
After several agonizing months of detainment and separation, he is doing everything he can do to get back to his family, while stuck Between Borders in Mexico.
His is just one of the many stories of painful family separation and the near impossible journey to return to those you love most.
In 2019, an anonymous Border Patrol agent told CBS News, “Two things hit you right off the bat, the moment you open or walk through these doors … you hear kids crying and simultaneously, you get hit with the smell of people that have been there for too long.” The conditions in these detention centers and the state of immigration enforcement have only worsened since then.
U.S. immigration policy is a mess. This has been true for some time, but current admissions policies have placed the ailing system on life support. The administration has taken an aggressive approach to curtailing legal immigration and existing humanitarian pathways while also stripping status from people who are already here through legal, protective pathways.
This isn’t what we think it is.
Criminal deportation is commonly understood in more urgent contexts. A person comes here, commits and crime and is deported as part of their hearing. Or maybe they are removed from a prison here and extradited there. But, current immigration law puts no statute of limitations on crimes committed. With a shocking lack of due process, people can be sent to third countries and mass prisons (like CECOT), even after serving time and making restitution.
“Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” -- Fred Rogers
Nory is the founder of the Paso Canoas Meal Program on the Panama/Costa Rica border. Her story is one we have heard again and again across migration routes throughout the Americas: ordinary people seeing great need around them and choosing to act.
What began eight years ago continues today, serving hundreds of migrants living Between Borders every month.
Jose left Venezuela to save his livelihood and search for a more hopeful future. A family farm that once sustained them no longer can, as the country's political and economic crises are making it harder to survive.
He crossed South and Central America, making his way north to seek asylum in San Diego. Now, he is in Panama, stranded between borders, with no clear way forward and no safe passage out.
