American Friends Service Committee - United States-Mexico Border Program

Administrative History

Since 1940, the American Friends Service Committee - San Diego (AFSC-SD) has worked closely with migrant workers and promoted rural and urban development in Mexico. Focusing on improving the living and working conditions of migrant workers and strengthening their political voice, the AFSC-SD has historically played a principal role in Mexicano activism in the US-Mexcio border region of California.

Orginally the AFSC-SD began the U.S.-Mexico Border Project (USMBP) in 1977 to address economic imbalances between the US and Mexico. With the passage of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, the program began to monitor and document human and civil rights abuses by border law enforcement agencies. The program represented two subcommittees, one in Pasadena and, other in San Diego. The USMBP remains a unique project which records incidents of state violence that might otherwise remain underreported and/or uninvestigated.

Marco Antonio Rodriguez became the first director in 1978-1979 under the coordination of the AFSC Pasadena office under Frank Galvan. Roberto Martinez was hired as director in 1982, and served as such until 2000. Martinez was already working as a human rights advocate through the Catholic Diocese and as a member of the Chicano Federation of San Diego County, as director of Coalition for a Humane Immigration Policy, and through the formation of the East County Sheriff/Community Relations Task Force.

During 1983-1986, Martinez worked with Centro de Asuntos Migratorios (CAM), an independent legal services organization formed in 1978 that worked closely with AFSC until 1993 when CAM merged with USMBP. Marco Antonio Rodriguez became CAM's interim director after the resignation of Leonor Lozano in 1983, until 1989 when Richard Garcia, the El Centro office attorney and supervisor became executive director. CAM's mission was to provide and promote vital legal representation, education, and advocacy of undocumented individuals and their families.

In 1987, the USMBP undertook a special Immigration Law Enforcement Monitoring Project (ILEMP) designed to focus on the human rights of those immigrating to the US from Mexico and on the quality of society's response to their security and respect. In 1997, AFSC-SD conducted a bi-national study of abuses in collaboration with human right organizations in Tijuana; in 2001, AFSC-SD staff initiated an ecumenical migrant outreach project.

From the guide to the American Friends Service Committee - United States-Mexico Border Program. Records, 1974 - 2004, (University of California, San Diego. Geisel Library. Mandeville Special Collections Library.)