WEBCAST

Defending Humanity: Caring for Refugees and Migrants Trapped in Danger

Tuesday, December 17, 7:30 PM – 9:00 PM EST

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams are treating thousands of refugees and migrants blocked from seeking safety and now trapped in dangerous conditions throughout Mexico. We witness the devastating medical and mental health impacts of migration restrictions on our patients every day.

New US immigration policies have created a humanitarian emergency at the border and throughout the region. Asylum seekers are being sent back to dangerous cities in Mexico and other countries in the region wracked by violence. Meanwhile at the US-Mexico border, thousands of people languish near international bridges without access to medical care or basic services.

Join MSF for a discussion about how to help people whose lives are threatened by increasingly restrictive immigration policies imposed by the US and Mexico. Aid workers and experts from MSF, RAICES, and the University of Texas School of Law will discuss how these changes are affecting the lives and health of people fleeing extreme violence and poverty in Central America.

At the time of the event, tune in to our webcast here. Want to attend in person? Register here for the event in Austin, Texas.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Moderator

Carlos Sanchez is a 35-year veteran of the news industry and currently serves as a senior editor for Texas Monthly magazine based in the Rio Grande Valley. He has also served as executive editor for the (McAllen) Monitor as well as the Waco Tribune-Herald. Sanchez began his career with the (Fort Collins) Coloradoan newspaper and in short order worked as a reporter for the El Paso Herald-Post and the Austin American-Statesman before becoming a staff writer for The Washington Post. While at the Post, Sanchez covered the night police beat during that city’s crack cocaine epidemic and was involved in the coverage of the Reagan-Gorbachev summit in Washington; the Mount Pleasant riots of 1991; the Los Angeles riots of 1992. He is also the first reporter to interview Lorena Bobbitt. Sanchez helped in the coverage of the presidential inaugurations of George H.W. Bush; Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. He returned to Texas in 1994, working for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram before entering management by returning to the Austin American-Statesman, where he helped direct coverage of the presidential election of George W. Bush for the Cox newspaper chain. Sanchez joined Texas Monthly in March 2018. He is married to Sandra Sanchez and is the father of three children and two dogs.

Panelists

Denise Gilman, teaches and directs the Immigration Clinic at the University of Texas Law School where she works with students to handle a range of immigration cases with a focus on asylum and detained cases in removal proceedings. Professor Gilman also teaches a refugee law and policy seminar. She writes and practices extensively in the immigrants’ rights and human rights fields. She received her undergraduate degree from Northwestern University and her law degree from Columbia University School of Law. Professor Gilman serves on the ABA Commission on Immigration and has received recognition from MALDEF and the University of Texas for her service on behalf of the immigrant community. Before beginning her teaching career, she worked for the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, Human Rights First and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Her latest article is Immigration Detention, Inc., published in 2018 in the Journal for Migration and Human Security.

Adriana Quiroga, community organizer at the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES), was born and raised in La Paz, Bolivia and moved to Austin, Texas at the age of 16. She received a B.A. from Rhodes College and then joined the human rights fight in the Dominican Republic serving with an international NGO (International Justice Mission) working to rescue and restore child victims of sex trafficking and bring perpetrators to justice. She worked to develop and implement a communication and outreach plan to raise local awareness of the prevalence of this crime. Adriana’s bicultural background and passion for human rights brought her back to her second home, Texas, to join RAICES two years ago as a legal aid working directly with unaccompanied minors, immigrant and refugee families. Most recently Adriana joined the Advocacy team to organize and build power within the immigrant community in Austin. She works alongside advocates and leaders to push for policies that protect immigrants.

Samuel Almeida, MSF regional deputy head of mission, is responsible for the implementation and coordination of MSF's advocacy priorities in Mexico and Central America. The Mexico and Central America mission currently conducts activities in Mexico and Honduras, working with survivors of violence (including sexual violence), migrants and asylum seekers, returnees, and IDPs. From July 2018 to July 2019 Samuel served as MSF Regional Advocacy Manager in Mexico and Central America, and from August 2017 to June 2018, as an MSF Humanitarian Affairs Officer in Iraq. Prior to joining MSF, Samuel worked as a lawyer in Sao Paulo, Brazil. From 2014-2015 he served as a researcher for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). He holds a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from Faculdades Metropolitanas Unidas (FMU) in Sao Paulo, as well as a Master of Arts from Universidade de Lisboa and a Master of Letters (Mlitt) from University College Dublin. His academic research focuses on security sector reforms and transitional justice.

Gordon Finkbeiner, field coordinator for MSF's migrant project in Mexico.

Avril Benoît is the executive director of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières in the United States (MSF-USA). She has worked with the international medical humanitarian organization since 2006 in various operational management and executive leadership roles, most recently as the director of communications and development at MSF’s operational center in Geneva, a position she held from November 2015 until June 2019. She has worked as a country director and project coordinator for MSF, leading operations to provide aid to refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants in Mauritania, South Sudan, and South Africa. Avril’s strategic analysis and communications assignments have taken her to countries including Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatini, Haiti, Iraq, Lebanon, Mexico, Mozambique, Nigeria, Sudan, and Syria. From 2006 to 2012, Avril served as director of communications with MSF Canada. Prior to joining MSF, Avril had a distinguished 20-year career as an award-winning journalist and broadcaster in Canada. She was a documentary producer and radio host with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), reporting from Kenya, Burundi, India, and Brazil on HIV stigma, rapid urbanization, sexual violence in conflict, and political inclusion of women, among numerous other assignments and topics.