Quixote Center Initiates Programming in Panama
By Kim Lamberty
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.
By Kim Lamberty
Below is a statement we released with our partners at the Franciscan Network for Migrants. Click HERE to read the original statement in Spanish.
This past week, the Quixote Center team traveled to Panama to meet with our partners at the Franciscan Network on Migration (RFM), to learn more about the conditions migrants encounter in Panama and see how we can continue to accompany and support the RFM’s work there.
The Biden administration proposed a new rule that would bar most migrants from being able to seek asylum if they did not seek asylum in a country through which they transited or based on how they entered.
The following is a statement released by the Colectivo de Observación y Monitoreo de Derechos Humanos en el Sureste Méxicano, of which our partners at La 72 are a part. We have translated the statement from Spanish to English. To read the original statement, click HERE.
During our solidarity trip to Southern Mexico in November, seven participants from partner organizations joined us. The following is a reflection from Sofia Rosales-Zeledon, a Grassroots Advocacy Associate with the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA). A young Latinx professional, organizer, and community activist, she is passionate about immigrants' rights and racial equity. As a Grassroots Advocacy Associate, she helps AILA members engage with national advocacy campaigns around AILA's priority areas.
During our solidarity trip to Southern Mexico in November, seven participants from partner organizations joined us. The following is a reflection from participant Thomas Cartwright, an activist with Witness at the Border. A retired financial executive from Columbus, Ohio, Thomas Cartwright is now a global refugee advocate. He advocates for the rights of migrants in Congress, regularly visits border regions from the U.S.-Mexico border to Greece, and his work to monitor ICE removal flights has been instrumental in our work to defend Haitian migrants.