The Centro Sin Fronteras (“Center Without Borders”), officially the Centro Sin Fronteras Community Services Network, is a 501(c)(3) illegal immigration activist organization. The Center was founded in Chicago, Illinois in 1987 by Emma Lozano, a pastor at the Lincoln United Methodist Church in Chicago, Illinois. [1] [2] Lozano is the sister of the late Rudy Lozano, a left-wing activist and community organizer in Chicago noted as a “fighter for immigrant [and] worker rights.”[3]

The organization advocates against deporting immigrants living in the United States illegally, a “moratorium on all raids,” comprehensive immigration reform “that provides legalization for the 12 million” illegal immigrants in the U.S., and a “renegotiation of NAFTA and other trade and financial agreements” to better suit the interests of Mexico. [4]

Lozano and the Center have been involved in a number of demonstrations and protests with other left-wing groups, most notably the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) in April 2016.[5] Lozano is a member of the LULAC Illinois state affiliate’s immigration committee, and the Centro has extensive connections with LULAC.[6]

Elvira Arellano, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, former fugitive from U.S. immigration authorities, and activist for illegal immigrants in the U.S., formed the activist group La Familia Latina Unida (“The United Latin Family”) as an expansion of the Centro Sin Fronteras. [7] La Familia Latina Unida runs Pueblo Sin Fronteras (“People Without Borders”), a group that organizes “migrant caravans” from Mexico and Latin America to cross the U.S. border illegally.[8]

Background and Ideological Origins

For more information, see Emma Lozano

The Centro Sin Fronteras was founded in Chicago, Illinois in 1987 by Emma Lozano, a pastor at the Lincoln United Methodist Church. [9]

Prior to founding Centro, Lozano was reportedly active in a left-wing organization in Chicago called Centro de Accion Social Autonomo (“Center for Autonomous Social Action,” or CASA). CASA has been described as “the self-proclaimed vanguard of an ethnic Mexican class-based revolution” following a Marxist-Leninist ideology. “CASA believed in a world without borders and, in addition to immigrant services and study groups, was also committed to trade union work.”[10]

According to Latinas in the United States: A Historical Encyclopedia, “The Centro has an international mission, addressing U.S. policies in Central America and supporting movements for social justice in Mexico. It also provides exchanges with communities in Santo Domingo, El Salvado, Cuba, and Mexico. Lozano led a delegation to Vieques, Puerto Rico, to stop weapons testing in the area.”[11]

In 2006, Centro Sin Fronteras supported the “Child Citizen Protection Act” introduced by Rep. José E. Serrano in the hopes that the effort would “result in the legalization of undocumented immigrants who are parents and have previous deportations, even if future legalization measures exclude people with prior deportations.”[12]

Affiliated Organizations

In addition to its own activism, the Centro Sin Fronteras is affiliated with two illegal immigration advocacy organizations: Pueblo Sin Fronteras and La Familia Latina Unida.

La Familia Latina Unida

Also see La Familia Latina Unida (Nonprofit)

La Familia Latina Unida (“The United Latin Family”) is a Chicago, Illinois-based 501(c)(4) illegal immigration advocacy organization formed in 2001 by Elvira Arellano, an activist for immigrants living illegally in the United States. Arellano is listed as the organization’s president.[13] According to IRS filings, La Familia Latina Unida failed to file a Form 990 tax return for three consecutive years and had its 501(c)(4) tax exemption revoked in May 2017.[14] Its current IRS tax status is unknown. However, the organization continues to operate as a nonprofit, according to filings with the Illinois Secretary of State.[15]

In 1997, Arellano entered the U.S. illegally and was deported to Mexico by U.S. authorities. She successfully entered the country illegally again within days of her arrest, and lived three years in Oregon before moving to Chicago, where she was arrested in 2002 for working under a false Social Security number. [16] Following Arellano’s arrest, the Centro Sin Fronteras formed La Familia Latina Unida to protest her arrest; around this time, Arellano joined the Centro. [17] As of March 2017, Arellano has been granted a stay of deportation by a U.S. immigration court.[18]

Arellano was sentenced to three years’ probation and ordered to appear before an immigration court in 2006; instead, Arellano fled to the Adalberto United Methodist Church in Chicago, where she was considered a fugitive from U.S. law. [19] In 2017, the Chicago Tribune described Arellano as “the face of the new sanctuary movement, a political strategy in the U.S. that first unfolded in the 1980s, in which churches and synagogues house immigrants. Though churches can’t guarantee protection, they are generally off-limits to law enforcement raids.”[20]

Pueblo Sin Fronteras and La Familia Latina Unida formerly shared the same Chicago address (2716 W. Division St, Chicago, Illinois 60622), which is the same address as the Adalberto United Methodist Church. [21] [22] In addition, Centro Sin Fronteras shared the same Twitter account as La Familia Latina Unida (@LUMCPilsen).[23]

Pueblo Sin Fronteras

Also see Pueblo Sin Fronteras (Nonprofit)

The Pueblo Sin Fronteras (“People Without Borders”) appears to be a project of La Familia Latina Unida. The two organizations are regularly listed together, including on the latter’s website and their respective social media pages.[24] In 2003, during the group’s participation in the Immigrant Workers Freedom Rides in Illinois, Pueblo Sin Fronteras was described as “a church and community based organization in the Mexican and Puerto Rican neighborhoods of Chicago.”[25]

Emma Lozano is listed as executive director of Pueblo Sin Fronteras. [26]

Roberto Corona is the founder of Pueblo Sin Fronteras.[27]

Pueblo Sin Fronteras is a member of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, a left-wing coalition of immigrant activist groups.[28]

October-November 2018 Caravan

Background

For more information, see Centro Sin Fronteras (Nonprofit)

In mid-October 2018, a caravan of roughly 4,000 to 7,000 immigrants seeking illegal entry into the United States was launched from Central America. The caravan, which first crossed the Guatemalan border into Mexico illegally on October 19, was organized by at least one activist from Pueblo Sin Fronteras, identified as Denis Omar Contreras (sometimes spelled “Contera” or “Contrera.”[29] A second Pueblo Sin Fronteras activist, Rodrigo Abeja, was later identified as “traveling with the migrants.”[30] Abeja was noted as being “one of the caravan’s leaders” in the Washington Post.[31] He was also a caravan leader in the April 2018 caravan.[32]

After President Donald Trump warned the governments of Honduras and Guatemala that they would be cut off from American foreign aid for failing to control the flow of illegal migrant caravans to the U.S., Pueblo Sin Fronteras accused the Central American countries of adopting “a policy of fear and racism imposed by the United States.”[33]

The caravan met with criticism from many American pro-legal immigration groups, which wrote that “bowing to this migration blackmail would produce an American political backlash that would damage the cause of legal immigration and a humane refugee policy.”[34] David Frum, a moderate Republican and writer for the Atlantic, noted that the caravan’s slogan was “People without borders,” adding that it “chimes with the rising sentiment among liberals that border-enforcement is inherently illegitimate, and usually racist, too.”[35]

Initial Denial of Pueblo Sin Fronteras Involvement

A number of center-left U.S. media outlets initially denied the role of Pueblo Sin Fronteras and other left-wing groups in organizing the caravan. On October 23, the Washington Post published a report which considered the caravan to have been created spontaneously by economic migrants.[36] Univision, a Spanish language television network, reported on November 15 that “there’s no organized effort to try to get these migrants from Honduras to the border, to the U.S.-Mexico border.” When asked about involvement by non-governmental agencies, Univision said, “In all our reporting since this caravan started — not only this one, the others that [preceded it] — we haven’t found any evidence of any government involved in funding or financing this effort to try to get these people Honduras to the U.S.-Mexico border. . . there’s no government or state force behind this.”[37] According to the New York Times on October 20: “Did Democrats, or George Soros, Fund Migrant Caravan? Despite Republican Claims, No”:[38]

The notion that refugees will leave their homes solely for a little cash is “crazy,” said Alex Mensing, a project coordinator with Pueblo Sin Fronteras, a transnational group that organized the migrant caravan that captured Mr. Trump’s attention last spring. (The group did not coordinate the caravan that is now traveling north, but has been organizing similar journeys for years.)

Pueblo Sin Fronteras activist Alex Mensing later claimed that “[t]here’s no one in charge of this thing [the caravan].”[39] At an October 19 protest in San Francisco, California, however, Mensing denounced efforts to control the flow of illegal immigrant caravans from Central America:[40]

“It’s time the Guatemalan government stand up for its Honduran brothers and sisters,” said Alex Mensing with the San Francisco-based organization Pueblo Sin Fronteras, a group that advocates for migrants’ human rights. “The people who are currently fleeing Honduras are being forcibly displaced from their country … and that is a direct result of the corrupt Honduran government and U.S. intervention and support for that corrupt government.”

In a November 26 radio interview with KPBS, Mensing also said that he was present on the Mexican side of the country’s northern border when caravan members attempted to forcibly cross into the United States.[41] On October 18, Pueblo Sin Fronteras activist Irineo Mujica, who holds dual American and Mexican citizenship, was arrested by Mexican officials during a pro-illegal immigration protest held in Ciudad Hidalgo, near the Mexico-Guatemala border.[42] While Pueblo Sin Fronteras activist Alex Mensing told reporters Mujica was not involved in organizing the October 2018 caravan, Mujica is listed as one of two Mexico-based contacts for a press release following the March 2018 Pueblo Sin Fronteras caravans.[43]

Evidence of a False Media Narrative Emerges

On November 13, American documentary filmmaker Ami Horowitz reported that the members of the caravan making its way through Oaxaco, Mexico, were approximately “90 to 95 percent” male, despite reporting in the U.S. that the caravan consisted of men and women, and were primarily organized by representatives from a group called Pueblo Sin Fronteras, which organized trucks of food, water, and other supplies to the migrants. Horowitz also interviewed caravan members, who said they were “seeking employment they illegally enter the United States,” and not fleeing gang violence in Honduras, as has also been widely reported by Western news outlets. [44] Horowitz told the right-leaning Daily Caller:[45]

What we do know is this thing [the caravan] cost millions and millions of dollars. . . . One of the lies the [mainstream] media is trying to propagate is the fact that all this weird organic thing and all the water and the food and medicine, all dropped [like]. . . manna from heaven. It’s bologna. It’s all highly organized. It’s paid for by a number of organizations, we don’t know exactly where the money is coming from.

According to Horowitz, the Pueblo Sin Fronteras he identified in Mexico is connected to, but not necessarily the same group as, the Chicago-based Pueblo Sin Fronteras. “We do know that Pueblo Sin Fronteras, which is the main group which has organized this caravan, has a couple of front organizations in the United States and the money is flowing from them to Pueblo Sin Fronteras [in Mexico].”[46] However, Emma Lozano has traveled to Mexico City before in her capacity as director of Centro Sin Fronteras in order “to support the Familia Latina Unida.”[47]

After the caravan reached Tijuana, Mexico in late November, MSNBC reporter Gadi Schwartz reported from the migrant caravan camp that women and children “are the minority of this caravan. Instead, most of the members of this caravan [are men],” he said, gesturing towards a line of “single men.” Schwartz also reported that many migrants had told him that they had joined the caravan after being falsely told that there were “work programs that they would be eligible for” in the United States. After realizing that there were no such programs and it wouldn’t be easy to cross into the U.S., Schwartz continued, “some of them are deciding to turn back” and return to Central America.[48]

Some center-left groups like the Washington Post initially criticized conservatives for claiming that members of the violent gang MS-13 were traveling with the migrant caravan. On October 25, Post fact-checker Salvador Rizzo criticized the Trump administration for provid[ing] no evidence that criminals, members of the MS-13 gang or people of Middle Eastern descent form[ed] part of the caravan.”[49]

On November 28, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency released a statement that it had arrested a “Honduran citizen and active gang member with the notorious Mara Salvatrucha 13 (MS-13) international crime organization. The man also told agents he traveled to the United States border with a large group of people from Central America intending on filing for asylum in the United States.”[50] The agency also announced that it had arrested over 600 convicted criminals traveling with the migrant caravan, although it did not confirm the “backgrounds and identities of all caravan members which possess a national security and public safety risk.”[51]

Media Sources Confirm Pueblo Sin Fronteras’s Involvement

Despite its initial position that the October migrant caravan was not organized by an outside group, on November 19 the Washington Post confirmed that Pueblo Sin Fronteras was “helping [to] guide the caravan” through Mexico and across the U.S. border. The report came after approximately 6,000 caravan members reached the city of Tijuana along the U.S.-Mexico border. The report also stated that “between 8,500 and 10,500” migrants were traveling with the caravan.[52] On November 27, CNN reported that the “annual caravan of Central American migrants heading to the U.S. border [was] organized by Pueblo Sin Fronteras.”[53]

La Razón, a Mexican daily newspaper, also reported that a number of Mexican activists denounced Pueblo Sin Fronteras for “inciting members of the migrant caravan to generate violence on the northern border of Mexico.” Eunice Rendón, a Mexican immigration activist and coordinator for the group Migrant Agenda, reportedly met with Pueblo activist Rodrigo Abeja to offer the group “legal assistance.” Abeja declined because “he pursued other purposes.” Rendón told La Razón that, “In the end, it’s people [like Irineo Mujica] who have other interests and take advantage of the vulnerability of others. They bring political motivations.”[54]

According to Mexico News Daily and Milenio, around 350 migrants chose to leave the caravan once it reached Tijuana, Mexico in order to return to their Central American countries, claiming they were “misled about their chances of gaining entry to the U.S.:”[55] [56]

“Pueblos Sin Fronteras [sic] told us not to worry, that there was going to be transportation, that Mexico was going to open the gates so that we didn’t have to enter [the U.S.] illegally, via the river . . .” Honduran migrant Ulises López said, referring to the attempted border breach Sunday. “What was offered to the caravan of Honduran migrants was a trap . . . The people that brought us to this place, supposedly [caravan] leaders, took advantage of us, they used us in a horrific way, what they did to us has no name,” he added.

David Abud, a Pueblo Sin Fronteras representative, responded to the claim by denying all organizational involvement in the October caravan, saying: “Let it be clear that we didn’t organize or encourage [the migrants] to carry out the march [to the border].”[57] A report by right-leaning the Epoch Times, however, called Pueblo Sin Fronteras “a well-oiled asylum machine.” According to the report: [58]

The group [Pueblo Sin Fronteras] writes the names of asylum-seekers in its book—each number is assigned 10 names—and when a number is called, that’s the day those people enter the pedestrian crossing into the United States and claim asylum. They have recorded more than 11,000 names since March. U.S. Customs and Border Protection processes around 100 asylum claims per day at El Chaparral.

Colonel Fred Peterson, former chief public affairs officer of the U.S. Defense Department’s Joint Task Force North, which administers counter-drug and terrorist operations in North America, called the caravan “a very well-funded operation. It’s not spontaneous at all.” According to Peterson, the migrants were “just props in a political, staged play.” [59]

According to Kate Morrisey, a reporter with the San Diego Union Tribune, migrants traveling with the caravan confirmed Pueblo Sin Fronteras’s involvement in coordinating it: [60]

There are people who have performed leadership tasks at different points along the caravan’s journey, but they don’t want to be called leaders. The caravan has a very flat structure — anyone who wants to be involved in decision-making is invited to the meetings that are coordinated by Pueblo Sin Fronteras, a group that has escorted migrant caravans through Mexico for years.

Luis Cruz, an organizer with Pueblo Sin Fronteras, told Fox News on December 3 that Pueblo was helping to organize the caravan in Tijuana. He also urged President Trump to “let these people in. Let them try. Let them try. I mean, most of these people are not bad.”[61]

Support from Left-Wing Groups

Also see By Any Means Necessary (Other Group)

By Any Means Necessary (BAMN), a far-left agitation group, also released a document on November 25 implying that it helped organize the migrant caravan (full document available here) and accusing the Trump administration of being “lawless and repressive”: [62]

Open it up or we’ll shut it down! Everyone must be let in! MEXICANS and AMERICANS stand with us! The arrival of the migrant caravan at the Mexico-US border has proven once again that the tactic of the caravan is our best strategy for safely reaching the US. Although we have not reached the border without suffering the roughness of the trip and some of us suffering it more than others, united we have almost reached our goal of crossing to the US and have

set the example for thousands of our brothers and sisters that are now making their way in their own caravans through Mexico, while others prepare for the next caravan to take off. . . . We live in a daily joint struggle to survive in the US undocumented and we march side by side fighting for immigrant rights. We invite our Mexican brothers and sisters to join our caravan efforts to safely and promptly cross to the US.

The BAMN document called for the Democratic Party to demand the caravan be allowed to illegally cross the U.S. border: “The US midterm elections are over, there’s no reason why civil rights organizations and the Democratic Party apparatus should not be fiercely demanding open access across the border for the caravan and doing everything possible to stop Trump’s racist attacks on the caravan.” BAMN also encouraged Americans in San Diego, California, “to solidarize [sic] with the caravan [and], if are legally able, to get across the border to Mexico and help the caravan to cross the finish line as quickly as possible.”[63]

Pueblo Sin Fronteras reportedly organized a rally in Oakland, California on November 25 “to show solidarity with the caravan of Central American families seeking asylum in the U.S.” According to the far-left website Workers’ World (Mundo Obrero), Honduran immigrant and Pueblo supporter Chris Lopez said: “We are here today in solidarity. We are here to support the rights of all migrants to seek asylum.”[64]

Previous Illegal Migrant Caravan

April 2018 Caravan

For more information, see Pueblo Sin Fronteras (Nonprofit)

In Spring 2018, hundreds of migrants from Central America approached the U.S.-Mexico border seeking asylum in the United States and threatening to enter illegally if their request was denied. Pueblo Sin Fronteras, a group connected with the Centro affiliate La Familia Latina Unida, organized the caravan in conjunction with the CARA Family Detention Pro Bono Project.[65] [66] The CARA coalition consists of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, the American Immigration Council, the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, and the American Immigration Lawyers Association, all groups advocating for legal status for illegal immigrants and expanded immigration overall.[67] These organizations have been funded by a number of major left-of-center grantmaking foundations, including the Open Society Foundations, MacArthur Foundation, Ford Foundation, and Carnegie Corporation of New York. [68] [69] The caravan eventually halted in Mexico City on April 4 instead of reaching the United States border.[70] On November 27, CNN reported that the “annual caravan of Central American migrants heading to the U.S. border [was] organized by Pueblo Sin Fronteras,” referring to the April caravan. [71]

In a press release released by Pueblo Sin Fronteras on March 23, 2018, the group “demand[ed]” the governments of Mexico and the United States “open the[ir] borders to us because we are as much citizens as the people of the counties where we are and/or travel.” Other demands were “that deportations, which destroy families, come to an end” and “that the U.S. government not end TPS [Temporary Protected Status] for those who need it.” [72] Temporary Protected Status is a status designated by the Secretary of Homeland Security which grants eligible foreign nationals protected status during “extraordinary and temporary conditions.”[73] The demands appear to violate U.S. law, which prohibits behavior by individuals that “encourages or induces an alien to come to, enter, or reside in the United States” illegally.[74]

The press release was co-signed by Roberto Corona, the founder of Pueblo Sin Fronteras, and Alex Mensing, an organizer with the group.[75]

Pueblo Sin Fronteras has reportedly organized roughly 1,000 immigrants in caravans to attempt to enter the U.S. and Mexico illegally since 2010, primarily from Honduras and El Salvador:[76]

The idea behind an organized group journey is to alleviate some danger on the long trip, through the simple principle of safety in numbers. Pueblo Sin Fronteras has its own organizers to handle logistics, and each individual is responsible for their own provision of food, water, and funding for transportation, should it be necessary. Groups are created by Pueblo Sin Fronteras; each composed of about 15 individuals under one leader. Five groups are then organized into a sector. This is how the caravan is structured and maintains order as the group moves northward.

Involvement with Other Activist Groups

On January 12, 2015, Lozano participated as a moderator in a town hall meeting at the Lincoln United Methodist Church in Chicago, where she is a pastor. The meeting was entitled, “Targeted Fraud: How Predatory Practices and Pyramid Schemes Impact Latino Communities.” Julie Contreras, an activist for the Illinois state affiliate of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), also participated as a moderator. Opening remarks were performed by Danny Solis, city alderman for Chicago’s 25th Ward. Attendees to the panel included LULAC national executive director Brent Wilkes, Make the Road New York activist Francisca Montana, Cook County commissioner (and former far-left mayoral candidate) Jesus Garcia, and National Consumers League executive director Sally Greenberg.[77]

A November 17, 2014 letter addressed to “DREAMers” (recipients of the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act, or DREAM Act) noted that Pueblo Sin Fronteras/La Familia Latina Unida had “helped 400 first time applicants and 200 renewal applicants apply/reapply for DACA” (the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals executive program) with a “100 percent success rate.” The letter also stated that the groups hosted “DACA sessions” at the Lincoln United Methodist Church, where Emma Lozano is a pastor. [78]

La Familia and Centro have also co-hosted workshops offering legal advice to illegal immigrants in the U.S. in the Lincoln United Methodist Church in Chicago.[79]

IFSCO Systems Deportation Arrests (2006)

Following the mass arrest in 2006 by federal immigration officials of 1,187 non-U.S. citizens employed by IFCO Systems, a wooden pallet producer, Arellano went on a 22-day hunger strike “principally to tell [President George W.] Bush to reform the current immigration policies and to keep families together, for workers [sic] rights and an end to deportations.” [80]

During the protest, Lozano called for “a moratorium to stop deportations” of illegal immigrants in the United States. Lozano said she planned to lead two activist campaigns: “one for mass citizenship training for undocumented immigrants, and another for mass voter registration.” Lozano said, “We need to change America, we are all America.” [81]

Funding

The Centro Sin Fronteras received $113,000 in 5 grants (2000-2005) from the Public Welfare Foundation, a left-wing funder, and the Wieboldt Foundation.[82] Elvira Arellano is considered a “co-chair” of the Center, although she is not listed as such on the group’s Form 990 tax filings.[83] In 2010, the National Immigration Forum reported giving $60,000 to the Center. The Forum, in turn, receives funding from a number of major left-wing grantmaking foundations, including the Open Society Foundations and MacArthur, Ford, and Rockefeller Foundations.[84]

In July 2018, Chicago Alderman Raymond Lopez was criticized by illegal immigration activists for accepting campaign contributions from a private prison company whose contracts have required the company to detain unaccompanied minors of illegal immigrants. Lopez announced he would donate $5,000 to Centro Sin Fronteras, and was in turn “applauded” by Lozano, who said:[85]

“I think that shows integrity. If you realize there was a mistake made and then you correct it, I think that’s to be applauded, not ‘it’s too late.’ No, it’s not too late,” Lozano said. “He’s becoming an example for others that this is what they should do.”

The left-of-center group American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker organization, also solicited donations to help the “Pueblo Sin Fronteras Caravan” on its website: “Help fund AFSC’s emergency response to the migrant caravan to protect human rights and support those fleeing violence.” (Image available here.) [86]

Leadership

President and Founder

Also see Emma Lozano

Emma Lozano is president and founder of the Centro Sin Fronteras.[87] She is the sister of the late Rudy Lozano, a left-wing activist and community organizer in Chicago, Illinois.[88] Lozano is also a pastor at the Lincoln United Methodist Church in Chicago, along with her husband, the pastor Walter “Slim” Coleman. [89] [90]

Lozano has stated her belief that, because Texas and other western states were territory of Mexico prior to their annexation to the United States in the 19th century, non-citizens from Mexico “have every right to be here [in the U.S.].”[91] In 2003, Lozano and Pueblo Sin Fronteras joined pro-illegal immigration organizers for the Immigrant Workers Freedom Rides in order to “push the State of Illinois to become an Immigrant Freedom Zone.” During a rally, she said: [92]

“We won’t give up until we have equal rights and live a life with dignity. Legalization is not enough – we want to make a new America, one that accepts and treats all of the inhabitants of our continent as equal citizens. We ride for freedom from our oppressors and we don’t say, ‘please, accept us, we are good workers,’ and make contributions, and wave the U.S. flag. We know our history – 1/2 of the entire United States was originally Mexico. We have every right to be here.” “We didn’t cross the border, the border crossed us, We’re not democrats or republicans [sic] – we’re Pueblo Sin Fronteras and were bringing the Virgin of Guadalupe to confront the so-called Statue of Liberty. We want justice now.”

Board of Directors

The Centro Sin Fronteras board of directors includes Cecilia Garcia, Anita Rico, and Walter Coleman. [93]

Cecilia Garcia is president of LULAC Council 5311, the Chicago affiliate of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC).[94]

Anita Rico is a left-wing activist and Centro board member. She has volunteered as a citizenship workshop director for Familia Latina Unida.[95]

Walter “Slim” Coleman is a pastor at the Lincoln United Methodist Church in Chicago, Illinois, and the husband of Emma Lozano.[96]

Other Staff

Alex Mensing is an organizer and program coordinator for Pueblo Sin Fronteras and its affiliates. [97] Mensing has spent a significant amount of time with refugees in Central America and organizing illegal immigrant caravans to the United States.[98] According to a 2016 report by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), Mensing was a staffer for the CARA Family Detention Project, a coalition of left-of-center organizations providing legal aid and representation to illegal immigrants in the United States.[99]

Irineo Mujica, an Arizona-based activist holding dual United States and Mexican citizenship, is a caravan organizer for Pueblo Sin Fronteras.[100] In October 2018, he was arrested by Mexican officials in Ciudad Hidalgo, Mexico, for his involvement in a pro-illegal immigration protest.[101]

Rodrigo Abeja is an activist and organizer for Pueblo Sin Fronteras. He has been involved in at least two caravans from Central America to the U.S. and Mexico.[102] [103] Abeja was identified in a 2013 article by the news group Vice as a representative for the Popular Assembly of Migrant Families, an left-wing organization based in Mexico which organizes migrants to the United States.[104]

Media

Pueblo Sin Fronteras on Facebook (October 26, 2018)

Pueblo Sin Fronteras: Press Release on the Central American Caravan (March 23, 2018)