Armando Borja, KBI Board Member By: Roxane Ramos Armando spends a lot of time on the road. As national director of Jesuit Refugee Service/USA, based in Washington, D.C., a big part of his job is looking for new projects to expand the organization’s service, accompaniment and advocacy for the displaced, undocumented and vulnerable among us. “JRS goes where the need is greatest, and helps to create the initial momentum to get things started,” says Armando. Back in 2008, the leadership of …Read More

By: Roxane Ramos One of the main ways the Kino Border Initiative works toward a more compassionate and practical immigration policy is by sponsoring research projects and advocating for migrants at the border. The migrants and their struggles are a critical part of life on the borderlands, and the KBI works to ensure the safety and well-being of all who come for food, shelter, medical attention or spiritual support. But how the reality of the border translates into numbers, trends, and …Read More

By: Roxane Ramos This year’s first place winner of the UA Poetry Center’s Bilingual Corrido Contest recounts a moving migration story of aspiration, struggle, and love. Daniela Ibarra first heard the story in 2009 when she was living in Sonora, Mexico for a year. An abuela (grandmother) in a dentist’s waiting room shared the trials of her grandson, left behind in Mexico, and his mother, seeking better fortunes in the United States with the expectation of reuniting soon. This is so often …Read More

By: Roxane Ramos The Kino Teens, a social justice group associated with the Kino Border Initiative, take what they learn about border issues on the road, locally and nationally. For the teenagers who attend Lourdes Catholic School in Nogales, Arizona, the border is not some distant abstraction—it is their home. And the debate that surrounds immigration reform is not simply political rhetoric—it is part of their everyday lives. So the students at Lourdes took on the issue, and organized the …Read More