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American Friends Service Committee - United States-Mexico Border Program Records
MSS 0644
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Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla 92093-0175
Title: American Friends Service Committee - United States-Mexico Border Program Records
Creator:
American Friends Service Committee. Mexico-U.S. Border Program
Identifier/Call Number: MSS 0644
Physical Description:
25 Linear feet
(62 archives boxes, 1 map case folder)
Date (inclusive): 1974 - 2004
Abstract: The American Friends Service Committee - US/Mexico Border Program (USMBP) is a human rights advocacy organization that was
established to support immigrant rights and concerns by documenting human and civil rights abuses by law enforcement agencies
in and around communities on the San Diego County-Mexico border. The records mostly encompass the organizational and administrative
activities directed by Roberto Martinez, director from 1982-2003. The collection contains incoming and outgoing correspondence,
field reports and studies, and meeting minutes, with similar materials in records for the parallel project, the Immigration
Law Enforcement Monitoring Project (ILEMP). The main components of the records are abuse complaint case files and legal case
documents compiled from individuals by the USMBP, the Centro de Asuntos Migratorios (CAM), the Chicano Federation of San Diego
County, and the Coalition for Law and Justice. Additionally, the papers contain conference and seminar materials, subject
files, brochures, published writings, and other materials supporting projects and organizations involved with AFSC and Roberto
Martinez.
Languages:
English
.
Scope and Content of Collection
The records of the American Friends Service Committee - U.S.-Mexico Border Program document the organization's accomplishments
between 1982-2003 when Roberto Martinez was program director. USMBP was established to monitor local law enforcement practices,
support immigrant labor rights, promote understanding of immigration problems, and to support strategic litigation that would
have an impact on immigration policies. The papers include administrative files for the Southern California regional office,
in the form of correspondence, meeting minutes, public relations materials and summary reports, as well as for the related
program, the Immigration Law Enforcement Monitoring Project (ILEMP). Additionally, there are abuse complaint case files, 1977-2000,
from citizen and non-citizen individuals in and around the San Diego-Mexico border region, and documents illustrating early
volunteer work by Roberto Martinez at the Chicano Federation of San Diego County, the Coalition for Law and Justice, and the
Centro de Asuntos Migratorios (CAM) records from 1981 to the merger with the U.S.-Mexico Border Program in 1994.
The records are arranged in fourteen series: 1) CORRESPONDENCE, 2) ADMINISTRATIVE, 3) WRITINGS AND REPORTS, 4) LEGAL CASES,
5) ABUSE AND COMPLAINT CASES, 6) CONFERENCES AND SEMINARS, 7) ILEMP (IMMIGRATION LAW ENFORCEMENT MONITORING PROJECT), 8) WRITINGS
OF OTHERS, 9) SUBJECT FILES, 10) CENTRO DE ASUNTO MIGRATORIOS (CAM), 11) CHICANO FEDERATION OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY, 12) COALITION
FOR LAW AND JUSTICE, 13) RELATED ORGANIZATIONS, 14) 2018 ADDITIONS.
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.
Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection.
American Friends Service Committee U.S.-Mexico Border Program Records. MSS 644. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.
Acquired 2004, 2018.
Materials in boxes 21-33, 50-53 are restricted until the year 2079 according to federal and state laws. Digital versions,
with personally identifying information redacted, are available on the Library's Digital Collections website.
Selected content from the abuse and complaint files has been scanned. Identifying information (such as names and addresses)
have been digitally redacted, while photographs, medical records, blank forms, and immigration status documents found throughout
the files were not scanned and are not presented online.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Mexico -- Emigration and immigration
Immigrants -- Civil rights -- Mexican-American Border Region
Mexican-American Border Region
United States -- Emigration and immigration
Mexican Americans -- Civil rights
Human rights -- Mexican-American Border Region
Chicano Federation of San Diego County
American Friends Service Committee. Mexico-U.S. Border Program -- Archives
Centro de Asuntos Migratorios (National City, Calif.)