Our Mission
Shelters for Hope creates safe shelter and resources for families seeking asylum.
Our Story
Founded in 2018, Shelters for Hope spent several years delivering essential services for migrants who had arrived in Sonoyta, Mexico, a town on the U.S./Mexico border as a stopping point on their journey to the United States. By 2020 it had become apparent that there was no safe overnight shelter for families seeking asylum through official U.S. government channels, and we turned our effort toward creating safe overnight shelter for these families.
In 2021 we opened Centro de Esperanza with a kitchen and dining area, medical and supply spaces, and a cluster of family sleeping rooms (instead of men’s and women’s dormitories that separate families). Migrant guests were provided with meals, clothing and hygiene supplies, and basic medical care. From the start, they also had access to computers, phones, the internet, and legal resources to prepare their asylum cases. By mid-2024, we had expanded our family sleeping room space to shelter 150 people and had filled to capacity with migrants waiting for appointments to enter the U.S. asylum process. The U.S. government suspended the asylum process in early 2025. Those migrants with safe options in other villages and towns in Mexico have moved there temporarily. Still, more than 90 migrants without safe alternatives remain sheltered at Centro de Esperanza, waiting for new asylum opportunities for people fleeing for their lives.
Since opening, Centro de Esperanza has sheltered nearly 800 migrants who were able to move to the United States as part of the U.S. asylum process.
Please note: where necessary, we have made efforts to respect the privacy and need for safety of our guests by blurring identifiable features and using representative stock photographs.
