The Center for Social Impact, in collaboration with the University Honors Program, the Humanitarian Action Minor, the Department of Psychology, and the Residential College program, will host a discussion on issues facing asylum seekers and migrants at the U.S. southern border.
Turn on any major news network, and often mixed within the national and political headlines of the day is coverage of migrants at the U.S.–Mexico border. But grainy video footage and journalistic reports can only offer part of the story of the migrant experience. To fill in the collective understanding of this crisis, Fairfield’s Center for Social Impact will host “Perspectives From Our Southern Border,” a virtual discussion about migrants at the border, their experiences, and ways to engage with the topic.
On February 23 at 7 p.m., the Center will welcome Sara Ritchie, director of communications at the Kino Border Initiative (KBI), who will lead a Zoom discussion on issues facing asylum seekers and migrants at the border. In her role, Ritchie has been responsible for “humanizing the realities of migration,” working with bilingual and interactive content on social media to encourage engagement.
The KBI, a multinational organization formed in 2009, is comprised of six organizations from the United States and Mexico: the California Province of the Society of Jesus; Jesuit Refugee Service (U.S.); the Missionary Sisters of the Eucharist; the Mexican Province of the Society of Jesus; the Diocese of Tucson, Arizona; and the Diocese of Nogales, Sonora, Mexico.
With dual locations in Nogales, Arizona, and Nogales, Sonora, Mexico, the KBI’s main goal is to “promote U.S.–Mexico border and immigration policies that affirm the dignity of the human person and a spirit of bi-national solidarity.” The Center for Social Impact's Associate Director of Humanitarian Action Julie Mughal said she initially reached out through the Center's longstanding connection with KBI to ask Ritchie to speak to her honors class, but then realized the topic could have a much broader audience.
“When she agreed [to speak], I realized how important this would be to the full campus community and the community at large,” said Mughal. “The issue of migration and asylum seekers at our southern border — and borders worldwide — is one of the most pressing issues of our time. The tragedy of displacement continues at a greater rate today than it has at any time since WWII, with people fleeing from humanitarian crises in Syria, Venezuela, the DRC, Afghanistan, and beyond.”
The virtual discussion, “Perspectives From Our Southern Border,” is free and open to the public via livestream at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, February 23. Register to attend through Zoom.
