The U.S. Border in Panama
Under pressure from the US, and with a large financial incentive, Panama is attempting to control the flow of migrants in its territory through deterrence and deportations.
Quixote Center recognizes migration as a fundamental human right that also benefits the communities that receive them. Beyond their economic contribution, the integration of people from all over the world enriches the cultural diversity and strengthens the social fabric of the United States, a nation built by migrants for migrants.
The Quixote Center’s principal international partnership is with the Franciscan Network for Migrants (FNM). The Franciscan Network for Migrants is an effort to connect shelters run by Franciscan orders which provide humanitarian assistance to migrants who are traveling through Mexico, Central and South America. We serve as the fiscal sponsor for the Franciscan Network for Migrants within the United States, and coordinate advocacy efforts with their staff.
Quixote Center and FNM organize Solidarity Trips every six months since 2022 as part of our advocacy, bringing U.S. based migrant justice professionals to Southern Mexico and Panama to see firsthand how the U.S. border externalization policies impact the lives of hundreds of thousands of people trying to seek refuge in the United States.
Find out more about our Solidarity Travel Program HERE.
As a result of our 2024 Solidarity Trip to Panama, we are currently working with the FNM Panama team on a Training of Trainers program to equip volunteers to provide spiritual accompaniment and observe that the human rights of migrants are respected in the Darien where FNM has established a permanent presence in the community of Bajo Chiquito.
Read March 11, 2025's Executive Decree from Panamanian President Jose Mulino en Español AQUI
Read the Red Clamor statement February 2025 in English HERE y en Español AQUI.
Read the Red Clamor Panama statement February 2025 HERE.
Read the Red Clamor Panama statement February 2025 in Spanish HERE.
Read January 21st, 2025 Joint Statement with our partners at the Franciscan Network on Migration here
Read November 22nd, 2024 statement from the Franciscan Network on Migration's National Assembly in Mexico here.
Participants from the March 2024 trip wrote the report: Danger in the Darién Gap: Human RIghts Abuses and the Need for Human Pathways to Safety to denounce US efforts to further externalize US border to Panama.
The Quixote Center launched the Migrant Justice program in 2018 to demand justice for migrants at the US border, within the United States and throughout their journey. We worked to end immigrant detention, and defended the right to asylum, which has been eroded over the last several years. We also partnered with organizations who work with migrants in the United States and in Latin America, organizing webinars and publishing reports.
Under pressure from the US, and with a large financial incentive, Panama is attempting to control the flow of migrants in its territory through deterrence and deportations.
…recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world…
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UNDHR), Preamble
Defending human rights is a political act. Without respect for human rights, democracy crumbles and stability gives way to civil unrest, insecurity, and migration, as people do what they feel they have to do to survive.
The kid with the neck tattoo of bright red lips, I won’t soon forget him. It wasn’t the neck tattoo of a tough guy or a gang member, but the playful tattoo of a baby-faced teenager. I bet I will run into him someday in the U.S., but I first met him near the Guatemala/Mexico border in June.
“I believe we…have stepped over a line into the [inhumane],” wrote the Texas state trooper who reported that his superiors ordered troopers to push migrants, including women and children, back into the Rio Grande.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 12, 2023
Contact: alexandra@quixote.org | 301-699-0042
The United States is quietly tearing its asylum system apart, endangering the lives of thousands of civilians and generating the confusion and immense human suffering that immigration advocates predicted.
In partnership with Quixote Center, the Panama team of the Franciscan Network for Migrants (FNM) is inaugurating the country's only non-profit migrant shelter.
The media predicted a massive surge at the U.S. border after the Biden Administration finally put an end to Title 42, and now outlets are scrambling to understand why this failed to materialize.
The reality is that migrants, advocates and even border officials, are unsure of what happens next. This drop at the border is no measure of success, but is rather evidence of a deep failure on the part of the United States to honor its commitment to provide safe refuge to people fleeing danger.
The Asylum Process Has Been Decimated