On March 28, 2023, forty migrants lost their lives in a Mexican detention center fire in Ciudad Juarez. What forces colluded to criminalize, imprison, and kill these migrants? And as a new caravan of migrants makes its way through Mexico toward the U.S., what lies ahead as we prepare for the end of Title 42 on May 11?
Please join us on May 11, 2023, at 10 a.m. Pacific, Noon Central time, for the latest in a series of webinars presented by the Zooming to the Border for Human Rights Coalition: “The Deadly Impact of Migration Deterrence on the US-Mexico Border.”
Please use this link to register in advance for this meeting. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
In this panel discussion, we will hear from people working on the front lines in Mexican border cities and towns, where thousands of migrants are being detained through the Mexican government’s ongoing complicity in aiding and abetting U.S. deterrence strategies. We will learn how Biden’s recent “Transit Ban,” a resurrection of Trump’s previous policies, is reverberating through Mexican detention centers and shelters. We will speak with participants in a growing movement to contest and intervene in these deadly policies and to prevent more migrant deaths. See below for details on the moderator and panelists. There is also a fourth panelist, from Tijuana, to be announced.
Moderator
Camilo Pérez Bustillo, J.D., is the Executive Director of the National Lawyers’ Guild San Francisco Bay Area chapter, on the leadership team of Witness at the Border, former Director of Advocacy and Research of the Hope Border Institute (El Paso), and both child and parent of migrants. He is co-author of the book Human Rights, Hegemony, and Utopia in Latin America: Poverty, Forced Migration and Resistance in Mexico and Colombiawith Karla Hernández Mares (Studies in Critical Social Sciences Volume 87, Brill Publications 2016).
Panelists
Lulú, of Casa Lulu and Casa de los Haitianos, Reynosa, Tamaulipas Mexico, understands the effects of Title 42 and the MPP (Migrant Protection Protocol) on migrants transiting through Reynosa. She has spent many years assisting immigrants in their pursuit of better lives and the American dream. Lulú’s aid in the shelter extends beyond providing food, opportunity, immigration paperwork, and medical care. She also helps reestablish faith, love, self-confidence, and self-esteem in the migrants.
Karina Breceda is a Fronteriza human rights advocate who has dedicated her life to working on both sides of the border between Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, and El Paso, Texas. She is the co-founder of the “Stellar Shelter,” in Ciudad Juárez, which serves the needs of women and children at the border. She has spent the last few years coordinating migrant shelters and developing multidisciplinary programs consistent with the life ethic and current migratory needs. Her work has received recognition through publications like National Geographic and Time magazine, and she was a finalist for the Dallas Morning News “Texan of the Year” in 2022.
Diana Solís is a sociologist by profession, and a defender by vocation. In her professional life, she accompanies unaccompanied teenagers during their integration processes. She currently collaborates with Derechos Humanos Integrales en Acción (DHIA) in the analysis and advocacy department, where she investigates the issues migrants face in their transit through Mexico, and specifically in Ciudad Juarez. The advocacy actions range from immediate attention to the needs of the population to different public spaces discussing immigration legislation.
The People’s Tribune and our sister bilingual publication, El Tribuno del Pueblo, are part of the Zooming to the Border for Human Rights Coalition.