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
Immigrants as Bargaining Chips: New Report from Tapachula
Following the revocation of TPS and the commencement of mass deportations to Haiti, many Haitians have been forced to seek refuge in Mexico.
What do Chickens, Turkeys, Pigs, and Cows have to do with Welcoming Migrants?
Some migrants flee violence. Some seek economic opportunity. And for some, the United States is their home, but our government has rescinded their legal right to be here.
Quixote Center has been partnering with the Franciscan Network for Migration (RFM) for more than 5 years to welcome migrants transiting Central America and Mexico with dignity, hospitality, and humanitarian assistance.
Mateo's Story
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.
To End the Illicit Traffic of Weapons from the United States
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.
Standing with Springfield
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.
Responding to a Growing Migration Crisis in Panama
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's Story
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.
Immigration Policy Update: Debunking Myths and Mapping the Way Forward
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's Story
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.
Immigration Policy Update: Dehumanization, Detainment & Deportation
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 Update: The Bans and Barriers to Entry
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.