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.

Location of Shelters in the Franciscan Network on Migration

Updates from Haiti: Foote is out, and the emergency response still needed

Fri, 09/24/2021 - 1:48pm by Tom

This week has been a roller coaster. As of Friday there have been at least 21 deportation flights to Haiti this week as the Biden administration tries to clear out thousands of people who have been stuck at the Del Rio port of entry after crossing into Texas - most from Haiti. As a frame of reference, through the first 11 months of the current fiscal year, there were a total of 37 flights to Haiti. As Biden has doubled down on Title 42 expulsions, the vast majority of people processed will simply be expelled without an opportunity to seek asylum.

The Quixote Center denounces the Biden administration expulsion of Haitian refugees

Thu, 09/23/2021 - 3:29pm by Alexandra

The Quixote Center joins with other human rights and faith-based organizations in unequivocally condemning the Biden administration’s decision to begin the mass expulsion of Haitian refugees who have been detained in Del Rio, Texas.

“The disaster unfolding in Del Rio is the direct result of the Biden administration’s decision to keep Title 42 enforcement in place. By continuing this Trump policy of denying people access to asylum at the border under the guise of public health, Biden has left them no place to go,” says Quixote Center program director, Tom Ricker.

Biden v Trump: When the “lesser of two evils” turns out not to be

Thu, 09/23/2021 - 11:37am by Tom

Somewhere in this country, Stephen Miller is probably sitting in a grimy basement watching television reports of the debacle unfolding under the Del Rio bridge. Fingers twitching in imitation of the Simpsons’ Mr. Burns, he grins and cackles and gives himself high fives. As Trump’s immigration adviser, Miller handed Biden a time-bomb, and it is now blowing up. I assume Miller is enjoying this.

Walls and Bridges: Del Rio and immigration policy in the age of spectacle

Wed, 09/22/2021 - 9:59am by Tom

We live in a global society of spectacle. Capitalism in its latest stage is fueled by the production of the imaginary. Business, activism, and politics are all played out in virtual spaces, while the world we physically live in becomes experienced primarily in reference to images; the more spectacular, the more entertaining, or the more shocking, the more engaged we become. 

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.

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