World Day of Migrants and Refugee – Student Panel

To mark World Day of Migrants and Refugees, the Kellogg Institute invites everyone to a special Mass celebrated on Friday, September 27, in All Saints Chapel, Jenkins-Nanovic Halls. Rev. Daniel Groody, CSC, Vice President and Associate Provost, will be the main celebrant. Mass will be followed by a panel discussion. That panel will include students who will share their research on the plight of migrants and refugees and efforts to build inclusive communities. Ford Program Director Rev. Robert Dowd, CSC, Associate Professor of Political Science, will moderate the panel. All are welcome.

Mass | 12:20-12:50pm

All Saints Chapel, Jenkins Hall  

Fr. Dan Groody will celebrate a special mass for migrants and refugees (all are welcome)

Panel on Migration Research (with lunch) | 1:00-2:00pm

C104-105, Hesburgh Center for International Studies

Moderator: Fr. Bob Dowd 
 

Panelists:

Camila Antelo Iriarte ’22 – Kellogg International Scholar (political science and economics)
Asylum Seekers Inside a Detention Center
What is happening right now on the US-Mexican border is not the pursuit of the American dream but rather a fight to survive. Families and individuals are fleeing to escape gang and domestic violence, political issues, discrimination, and lack of protection, to arrive in the US and face rejection, family separation, bad conditions, high possibilities of deportation, and low chances of receiving asylum even if presenting strong claims. This project focuses on sharing the stories of women detained waiting for their Credible Fear Interview in the Karnes Detention Center in Karnes, Texas. Antelo discusses what is making people leave their home countries and what they face when arriving at the US border. She seeks to share the effects of legislation and decisions made by ICE agents, which she experienced during her 10 weeks providing legal aid and collecting stories, that affected and had a substantial impact on the asylum processes of these women.  

 

María Luisa Paúl ‘ 21– Kellogg International Scholar (political science and economics)
Venezuelan Asylum Seekers’ New and Perilous Route: the United States’ Southern Border
Approximately 5 million Venezuelans have fled the country due to a harrowing political, social, and economic crisis. Though most of them choose to stay in South American nations, most notably Colombia, an increasing group of Venezuelans is traveling to the US-Mexican border, where they face a myriad of issues such as human trafficking, sexual assault, and robbery. After such a challenging and dangerous route, they then must overcome a “schizophrenic” immigration system, where the rules vary depending on who is in charge. Oftentimes Venezuelans, driven by desperation, venture towards the border without knowing the implications or lacking the documents necessary to seek asylum.

Maria Ventura ’20 – Kellogg International Scholar (anthropology and international development studies minor)
Us vs. Them: The Shortcomings of Migrant Integration Regimes
Ventura just returned from a semester abroad in Puebla, Mexico, where she assisted Dr. Maria de Lourdes Rosas López in gathering the basic information of transnational migrants traveling to the United States or northern Mexico via a local migrant shelter. She spent the following summer in Berlin, Germany conducting original research on the social integration of Arabic-speaking migrant women.