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The Big Picture

Five million Haitians, nearly half the population, are struggling to feed themselves, according to a new report from the World Food Program ([link removed]). Facing violence, hunger, and chaos, Haitians leave their country. In Venezuela, violence and poverty have caused 8 million people to displace. Families across Central America, especially Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, cite poverty, violence and food insecurity as the reasons they leave their homes. Weapons illegally trafficked out of the United States arm gangs and cartels who terrorize local communities and transiting migrants. And According to UNICEF ([link removed]), 4.1 million children will need humanitarian assistance in Mexico and Central America in 2024.

If we were in the shoes of the millions upon millions of people across the Western Hemisphere facing this situation, wouldn't we also seek a better life for our kids?

Most migrants do not end up at the US border. Many end up internally displaced, or they seek refuge in neighboring countries, many of which also suffer from gang violence and limited economic opportunity. This humanitarian crisis is not going away any time soon. "Violence, insecurity, fragile institutions, the impact of climate change and deep-rooted inequalities will force more people to flee, either within their own countries or across borders," according to the United Nations ([link removed]).

The journey is treacherous and expensive. The Quixote Center has documented ([link removed]) the violence migrants experience when passing through Panama's Darien Gap. Migrants report that Mexico is just as perilous, with gangs and cartels targeting them for theft and sexual assault. Many never reach their destination; many that do emerge are traumatized for life.

The migration tragedy is the thread that weaves all of Quixote Center's work together. Our economic development programs in Haiti and Nicaragua address poverty, food insecurity, and lack of economic opportunity. In the US we have focused our advocacy to end the illegal trafficking of weapons and ammunition from our own country to the cartels inflicting violence in Haiti, Mexico, and across the hemisphere. Our partnership with the Franciscan Network on Migration supports providing a safe, humane and dignified welcome to migrants journeying north, with an emphasis on Panama and Mexico.

Next week Quixote Center will launch our fall campaign to support this last piece: providing a safe, humane and dignified welcome in Panama and Mexico. Our goal: raise $20,000 to support:
* Establishing a new, Franciscan-run shelter in Central Mexico;
* Improving infrastructure and administration for the Franciscan-run shelter for migrants with medical needs in Panama;
* Training in human rights observation and non-violence to support a permanent spiritual and humanitarian accompaniment for migrants exiting the Darien Gap in Panama.

We will send more information about each initiative next week. If you want to donate now, please click on the link below, and be sure and tell your friends!

Thank you for your support.

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Contemporary Icons:
Seeing the Divine in Migrants and Refugees
by Anna Gallagher

Quixote Center board member and Executive Director of Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc, wrote the following piece for the National Catholic Reporter:

"In his poignant message for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees ([link removed]) 2024, Pope Francis reminds us, "God walks with his people." A Vatican website about the Sept. 29 observation characterizes migrants as a "contemporary icon of God's people on a journey" and urges us to encounter the divine in the vulnerable among us.

As someone who has dedicated my life to serving immigrants, this message resonates to my core. Over the years, I have had the privilege of working with countless individuals who embody courage, resilience and hope -- qualities that reflect God's presence in them, as bearers of God's image. At the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc.([link removed])(CLINIC), we daily encounter stories that reveal the profound dignity and the humanity of migrants and refugees.

Continue Reading HERE ([link removed])

 

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