Migrant and Asylum-Seeker Stories

The Migrant and Asylum-Seeker Justice Project, led by the human rights advocacy organization Coalición de Derechos Humanos, elevates migrant and asylum-seeker personal narratives through commissioned theatrical works, visual arts, and community-led advocacy. 

Coalición de Derechos Humanos joined forces with Teatro Dignidad to produce and premiere several theatrical works, including:

• "Dos Nogales" written by leading Latin American playwright Hugo Salcedo. Dos Nogales is a multi-media play that speaks to the current immigration landscape and provides a deep insight to the experiences of asylum seekers, including the reasons for fleeing their home countries, the struggles that migrants endure in the dangerous journey to the US/Mexican, including through the Darien Gap, the lack of access to asylum at the border, and the difficulties in securing an appointment through the US Customs and Border Protection CBP Home App. The play is based in conversations the playwright had with asylum seekers in a Nogales, Sonora shelter. Following two dramatic readings in Tucson that draw 120 attendees and garnered over 800 livestream views, the Spanish world premiere took place on May 9, 2024, and was performed for over 900 audience members in Nogales and Hermosillo, Sonora.

  “Dos Nogales”, obra de teatro sobre migración que se presentará en Nogales y Hermosillo. NORO. Ricardo Amador, May 1, 2025. 

  “Dos Nogales”: Obra teatral sobre migrantes se presentará en Hermosillo y Nogales. El Imparcial. Emelina Zuzeth Gonzalez Lopez. May 8, 2025.  

  Anuncian el estreno en Hermosillo de “Dos Nogales”, obra sobre migrantes. El Sol de Hermosillo. Carlos Castor. April 26, 2025.   

  "Dos Nogales", una obra que da voz a la migración, se presentará en IMFOCULTA. El Diario de Sonora. Daniel Torres. April 4, 2025.  

  (Radio Interview) ¡DOS NOGALES, UNA OBRA QUE CONCIENCIA Y EMOCIONA! La obra de teatro "DOS NOGALES" es una experiencia que no te puedes perder. Radio 80.  

  Dangers asylum seekers face take center stage in play premiering in Tucson. Arizona Daily Star, May 2024 

  Teatro Dignidad presents a World Premiere of the Play "2 Nogales." TucsonStage Blog, May 15, 2024. 

  El Tiradito: More than a Shrine. The Voices of Fronteridades podcast. May 1, 2025.

• "El Tiradito" written by local leading Latina playwright Elaine Romero amplify the voices and experiences of asylum seekers who have arrived at the Arizona/Sonora border in search for safety. This immersive play explores the history of activism at the El Tiradito Wishing Shrine in Tucson, founded in 1871. It commemorates migrant deaths in the Sonoran Desert, converging myth, border crossings, and a cry to activism. The play also serves to commemorate the long history of human rights activism in Tucson and migrant deaths in the Sonoran Desert. After unveiling the first scene in May 2023, the project programmed eight performances at the shrine in September 2023.

  Immersive' play to honor migrants, activism at Tucson's El Tiradito shrine. Arizona Daily Star, September 2023  

  Play set at El Tiradito 'homegrown' story about activism, tradition in Borderlands. Tucson Sentinel, September 2023 

  Interview: Elaine Romero Talks Culture, Border History, Human Rights, and World Premiere of EL TIRADITO. Broadway World, September 2023 

  El Tiradito, un santuario de latinos y migrantes en Arizona que venera a un pecador. Diario Libre. June, 20, 2023. 

• "Diablos Aquí" written by Elaine Romero. Diablos Aquí is a new play workshopped to explore the future impacts of mass deportation, drawing more than 200 community members to three staged readings.

  Play reading of Diablos Aquí. March 7, 2025.

  Announcement. February 2025.

Coalición de Derechos Humanos commissioned the mural "Derechos de Asilo" to muralist and Casa de la Misericordia asylum shelter director Angélica Macías.

• Installed on the border wall in Nogales, Mexico, the mural commemorates the struggles of asylum seekers. Residents of La Casa de Misericordia assisted with the conceptualization, construction, and painting. In June 2023, representatives from 19 social justice organizations from both sides of the border attended the unveiling during a World Refugee Day event.

  Inauguran Mural Pro Migrante. El Diario de Sonora. June 20, 2023.

Beyond the arts, Coalición de Derechos Humanos facilitated critical dialogues regarding the current immigration landscape, including:

• The webinar “CBP One-App: Migrant’s Speak”: This event featured testimonies from migrants regarding their inability to access the asylum system and included a talk by Illinois Congressman Chuy Garcia.
   
• A public panel discussion held at Raices Art Gallery regarding migrant deaths in the desert and activism in Tucson, alongside presentations by leaders from the Kino Border Initiative, Casa de la Misericordia and Coalición de Derechos Humanos.

The Binational Migration Institute is a research unit of UArizona's Department of Mexican American Studies. The Institute's Speaker Series bring scholars working on issues in the U.S.-Mexico border to the UArizona campus for free, public lectures. The lectures provide interdisciplinary academic perspectives on the sociopolitical factors driving migrants and asylum seekers north and help to contextualize their experiences on this journey. Presenters also engage with UArizona graduate and undergraduate students interested in understanding the challenges and expanding their experiences at the U.S.-Mexico border. 

The Binational Migration Institute Speaker Series conducted five research talks with scholars working on both sides of the US-Mexico border, including:

On November 30, 2023, Dr. Xóchitl C. Chávez, the first tenure-track Chicanx assistant professor in the Department of Music at U.C. Riverside, presented her research on Indigenous Placemaking and Sustainability of Oaxacan Brass in Los Angeles, CA. Her research shared insights into the longstanding culture of Oaxacan Brass Bands. Also, on December 1, 2023, Dr. Chávez hosted a Collective Songwriting Workshop for community members where attendees combined their creativity and voices. 
 
On March 28, 2024, Dr. Alex Chávez, scholar, artist, and the Nancy O'Neill Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Notre Dame, presented his lecture: "El Disco es Cultura: Sonic artifacts, racial geographies, Latinx Chicago." His lecture discusses the history of disco and how it expanded space for Latinx communities in Chicago. The following day, on March 29, 2024, community members had the opportunity to enjoy an intimate performance featuring Dr. Chávez, who played his newest album, Sonorous Presents.   
 
On January 16, 2025, Dr. Juan Carlos Ramirez Pimienta from SDSU Imperial Valley led the presentation "From Los Tigres del Norte to Peso Pluma: The Rise of Narcocorridos." The talk explored how narcocorridos have evolved in recent decades and what they reveal about Mexican culture on both sides of the border.  

On March 27, 2025, Dr. Rusell C. Rodriguez from U.C. Santa Cruz led the presentation "Ay, Ay, Ay, Ay, Canta y No Componen: Mariachi Performance and Composition." Dr. Rodriguez discussed the impact of technology on mariachi music, tracing the ensemble's history and transition, as well as changes in the practice of mariachi composition.

On April 15 and 16, 2025, Dr. Lizbeth de la Cruz Santana from Baruch College, New York, engaged with the general public and fellow scholars and students in a two-day event, which included the talks "Between Borders: The Lives of Deported U.S. Veterans" and "A Conversation with Dr. Lizbeth de la Cruz Santana." Between Borders featured an immersive mural exhibit of the Deported Veterans Diaspora Mural Project in a unique, interactive setting. During her conversation, Dr. de la Cruz Santana discussed her fieldwork along the US Mexico border for the Humanizing Deportation project.