Join Dora Rodriguez and Me, June 22, to Celebrate Her Forthcoming Book and Discuss the Transformative Power of Storytelling to Touch Hearts and Change Minds

Learn now Dora's book joins a canon of topical must-reads capable of turning your outrage over Trump & Co's weaponization of immigration into action

Hello Subscribers! Have I got a tale of humanity for you!

The next meet-up of the HOPE KNOWS NO BORDERS BOOK CLUB & WEBINAR SERIES is right around the corner—just one week after No Kings Day. And despite Trump & Co’s determination to drive our democracy into darkness, we have cause to celebrate: A new light is about to burn bright in the growing canon of immigration related, must-read books…

Dora: A Daughter of Unforgiving Terrain, by Dora Rodriguez, will be available and ready to top your reading list on July 5, 2025. And we’re throwing a virtual pre-launch party on June 22, marking World Refugee Week and—coincidentally—the first anniversary of Crossing the Line, too.

Everyone is invited! Click the image below to register.

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Dora’s life-saving attempt to flee El Salvador’s civil war in 1980 and how her odyssey sparked the Sanctuary Movement is central to Chapter 11 of Crossing the Line, Modern Problems, Medieval Solutions. But her story did not stop there.

Now, in this beautiful tale of resilience and resistance, sculpted into book form with the help of author-activist-educator Abbey Carpenter, Dora bravely shares her journey to the brink of death and back, and how it molded her into an unwavering champion for migrant rights and immigration justice.

I first met Dora while traversing the US-Mexico line. We became instant soul sisters. Our storytelling collaboration led to our partnering to raise awareness about the dark underbelly of the US immigration system. Built by administrations on both sides of the political aisle, the offspring of the Border Industrial Complex has now devolved into a weapon for demagoguery, a machinery of misery, and a tool of for-profit enslavement.

Dora is a prominent figure in the immigrant rights movement of Tucson, Arizona. Through her public speaking and advocacy, she educates communities nationwide about the harsh realities that folks seeking safety face when driven by government policy into the Sonoran desert. In sharing her personal experience, her vast archive of first-hand accounts, and her generous and giving heart, she inspires transformative change in response to the immigration injustices that are being harnessed to drive US democracy into crisis today.

A long-time Tucson Samaritan, Dora is also the Founder and Director of Salvavision, a nonprofit offering aid and support to families and individuals seeking a better future on both sides of the US-Mexico border. She co-founded La Casa de Esperanza, a respite center for those trapped in Sasabe, Mexico. She is the proud mother of five and a grandmother to four beautiful kids.

Her memoir offers not only a glimpse into her life-saving escape from certain death in El Salvador, but to the challenges and hardships faced by multitudes today, as well as her ongoing efforts to advocate for their dignity and fundamental human rights. At a time when the ability to cross borders is increasingly criminalized and human suffering is too often ignored, her story is more urgent than ever.

Dora's memoir is not just a survival story—it’s a testament to the power of hope in the face of adversity and the human capacity for resilience. It reminds us that behind every border crossing is a human life, a family, a dream.

Join us on June 22, 2:30-4:00 pm ET, as Dora and I continue our HOPE KNOWS NO BORDERS Book Club & Webinar Series in conversation with Abbey Carpenter, who was instrumental in getting Dora: A Daughter of Unforgiving Terrain across the line.

Abbey will lead us in discussing the issue of immigration in the US and the world today, but through the lens of mission-driven storytelling and with an emphasis on why Dora and I chose to write as a way to make good trouble and change the world.