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. We are a nation built by migrants for migrants. 

The Quixote Center’s principal international partnership is with the Franciscan Network for Migrants (FNM). FNM 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 serve as the fiscal sponsor for the FNM within the United States, and coordinate advocacy efforts with their staff. We provide on-going financial support to FNM programs in Panama, a particularly strategic and dangerous migrant crossing point. We offer capacity-strengthening funding to FNM teams, so far supporting teams in Colombia, Brazil, and Mexico. 

Quixote Center and FNM organize Solidarity Trips approximately every six months 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. border policies impact the lives of hundreds of thousands of people fleeing their homelands to seek a new life, in the United States or elsewhere.

Find out more about our Solidarity Travel Program .

Partner and Joint Statements

Read the Red Clamor statement February 2025 in y en . 

Read the Red Clamor Panama statement February 2025  y en . 

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 .  

Resources

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

The migration crisis in southern Mexico boils over, US policy is making things worse

Thu, 09/02/2021 - 6:01pm by Tom

“What is happening is that human rights are being violated here, refugees are people who left their country because of threats. If we are here it is because we are looking for a better life. People who have papers- they can not take them, put them on a bus and take them to Guatemala, that is a violation of human rights. There are people who have one-year visitor cards, who have residency, who have a document that says Tapachula, Chiapas, those same people are grabbed and taken to Guatemala.

Haitians, others in caravan attacked in Mexico

Mon, 08/30/2021 - 5:58pm by Tom

On Saturday a caravan of migrants formed in Tapachula in the state of Chiapas, Mexico. The group was mostly composed of Haitians, but included others from Venezuela, Central America, and Guinea. The caravan tried to leave Tapachula in protest of the refusal of the Mexican government to grant asylum - or even render a judgement - after a year or more of waiting.

Organizations in Mexico and the United States demand an end to expulsions, Title 42

Fri, 08/27/2021 - 2:09pm by Tom

Dozens of non-governmental organizations in Mexico issued a denunciation of the United States and Mexican governments policy of summary expulsions involving migrants from Central America, expelled from the US under Title 42, flown to southern Mexico to be bussed to the border with Guatemala; as well as Haitians summarily expelled from Mexico to Guatemala despite having legal status in Mexico. The Quixote Centered joined with others endorsing the statement. The English translation is presented below.

TPS for Haiti and Title 42 both extended by Biden, ICE still likes to hide

Fri, 08/06/2021 - 2:57pm by Tom

It has been over a year since we discontinued the , which served as our regular  (indeed, daily) summary of immigration policy. We are not bringing it back any time soon, but this week feels like one where we need to offer some news briefs and updates from a few areas of immigration policy. So in this installment of the Occasionally Recurring Dispatch!

JPIC Franciscan Family of Honduras Statement on Free Trade Zone Law

Fri, 07/23/2021 - 5:16pm by Tom

[The Justice Peace and the Integrity of Creation Committee of the Franciscan Family of Honduras is a fellow member of the Franciscan Network on Migration. The new free trade zone law in Honduras continues the current government's pattern of providing open access to Honduras' natural resources and exploitation of workers. Speaking out against such "reform" is crucial. This kind of liberal investment environment, promoted as a means to address the "roots of migration," will likely make things worse in the long run by dislocating communities and undermining labor.]

Franciscan Network on Migration Participates in UN Dialogue on Human Rights of Migrants

Fri, 06/25/2021 - 3:24pm by Tom

One June 24, 2021 the Advisory Committee of Franciscan Network on Migration collaborated with Franciscans International and together with 30 other organizations (including the Quixote Center) to make a joint Declaration on the harsh reality faced by migrants in Mexico, Guatemala and the United States. The statement as delivered by Ana Victoria López Estrada is below in English and Spanish.

Statement on the Killing of Franciscan Friar in Mexico

Fri, 06/18/2021 - 1:43pm by john

On June 12, 2021, Fray Juan Antonio Orozco Alvarado, O.F.M., a Franciscan friar, headed to church to celebrate Mass in Tepehuana de Pajaritos, Durango, Mexico and was caught in crossfire between two rival gangs and died, along with several other unnamed persons. As part of our work with the Franciscan Network on Migration, we are sharing the statement put out by the advocacy team on this killing. The Statement is available in both English and Spanish below.

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