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 .

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.

Statements

Read March 11, 2025's Executive Decree from Panamanian President Jose Mulino en

Read the Red Clamor statement February 2025 in y en

Read the Red Clamor Panama statement February 2025
Read the Red Clamor Panama statement February 2025 in Spanish 

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 .  

Reports

Participants from the March 2024 trip wrote the report:  to denounce US efforts to further externalize US border to Panama.  

  

 

History of the Program

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.

Location of Shelters in the Franciscan Network on Migration

Migration from Nicaragua is up since October 2021

Between October 1, 2021 and April 30, 2022, the US Border Patrol encountered a number equivalent to 1 out of every 69 Nicaraguans trying to get into the United States - a higher portion relative to population than any other country in Central America this year. “Encounter” refers to someone apprehended for attempting to enter the United States in an unauthorized manner, or deemed inadmissible at a port of entry, or anyone expelled under Title 42 authority.

Quixote Center Denounces Preliminary Injunction on Title 42

Quixote Center Denounces Preliminary Injunction on Title 42; Continues Call for Restoration of Asylum

Washington D.C.—Today a federal court in Louisiana issued a preliminary injunction against the Biden administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's decision to end Title 42. This decision means that the United States Border Patrol is required to continue to expel migrants immediately upon encounter, thus, denying refugees access to asylum or other humanitarian relief.

The crisis in Haiti: The United States continues to block reform and the passage of people fleeing

The Biden Administration expelled 450 people to Haiti, including 44 children, 20 of whom were infants, on three flights this week. These flights bring the total to 235 expulsion flights to Haiti since Biden took office, more than 23,000 people in total, and 21,000 in the eight months since the debacle in Del Rio last September. Another 8,000 people were summarily expelled into Mexico during the Del Rio crisis.

The world is on fire, and we're blocking the door

“I'm not here because I want to be here. I'm here to save the lives of my children.” - Mexican asylum seeker, expelled under Title 42 in March 2022

i want to go home,
but home is the mouth of a shark
home is the barrel of the gun
and no one would leave home
unless home chased you to the shore
unless home told you
to quicken your legs
leave your clothes behind
crawl through the desert
wade through the oceans
drown
save
be hunger
beg
forget pride
your survival is more important

Immigration advocates gather in front of Union Station in Washington D.C. to welcome migrants in a press conference.

Texas joins the Title 42 frenzy

Texas' governor Greg Abbot is putting immigrants on buses to Washington, D.C., apparently as some kind of protest related to the Biden administration's decision to end Title 42. The first bus arrived on Wednesday, April 13, but not at Homeland Security, Congress or the White House. Rather, the bus arrived in front of a building on Capitol Hill that houses several television networks' newsrooms, including Fox.

The Title 42 nightmare may be coming to an end… but what comes next?

“Expelling asylum seekers under Title 42 has not done anything to protect us from COVID” From the Congressional of Dr. Adam Richards, Physicians for Human Rights

Title 42 appears to be on its way out. After two years and 1.8 million expulsions, impacting well over 1 million people, Biden announced, and the CDC confirmed, that Title 42 would end on May 23, 2022.

The Biden Administration Must Restore Safe and Just Asylum

April 1, 2022 | Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 1st, 2022

 

CONTACT: Alexandra Gulden

alexandra@quixote.org

301-699-0042

 

The Biden Administration Must Restore Safe and Just Asylum

Washington D.C.—Today, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky issued a new order terminating the Title 42 order on May 23rd. Under the Trump-era policy, U.S. border officials were allowed to summarily expel or turn away over a million migrants and asylum seekers. The Quixote Center issued the following statement in response:

Quixote Center organized the Vigil to End Title 42 at the CDC offices, Washington, D.C. on March 21, 2022.

Work to End Title 42 Now!

The Centers for Disease Control and Protection the Order Suspending Introduction of Certain Persons from Countries Where a Communicable Disease Exists on March 20, 2020. The order claimed authority under Sections 362 and 365 of the Public Health Service (PHS) Act, 42 U.S.C.

Texas' Attorney General: Refugee children are not welcome

“‘He won over everyone with his smile, fearlessness and determination worthy of a real hero,' the statement said. It is unclear why the boy was unaccompanied.”

The story of an 11-year-old boy, who was put on a train to Slovakia by his parents so he could get out of Ukraine, was who called him a “hero of the night.”

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