Caminos de Arcoíris: Queer and Trans Migrant Networks of Care and Resistance is a project that centers the lived experiences of LGBTQ+ migrants on their journey to the United States. Queer and trans migrants are navigating rapidly shifting borders and migration policies that seek to endanger, instead of protect, them. In the process of migration, LGBTQ+ people, especially those who are trans, gender-nonconforming, indigenous and black, face exacerbated risks of violence, policing, and containment at the hands of state and non-state actors. The United States' imperial legacy continues to affect the dynamics of mobility, criminality, access to humanitarian aid and justice. This project centers the dynamics of queer and trans migration between and along the borderland regions of Mexico (U.S.–Mexico and Mexico–Guatemala) that have been socially, politically, and economically constructed and disrupted by the United States’ foreign policy and anti-immigrant agenda. Building on the existing research regarding queer and trans migration and border imperialism, this project interrogates how LGBTQ+ migrants survive and build community despite the violence border imperialism saturates throughout their migration journey.

This project is in collaboration with Jardín de Las Mariposas, a LGBTQ+ migrant shelter in Tijuana, and a group of four queer and trans migrants from Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala. Through a participatory and storytelling approach, the four project participants: Yaritza, Kendra, Yordy, and Dannia, shared their experiences navigating the dynamics of a militarized, carceral, and performative pro-immigrant nation as queer and trans migrants, considered where they found support and community, and reflected on their emotions days before crossing the Mexico–US border to start their asylum process.

The project is presented through the Mariposa Diaries, a multimedia migration diary created to bring visibility to the dynamics of queer and trans migration in the Americas. Another component of the project is the Rainbow Directory, a digital and printable directory created to connect LGBTQ+ migrants and asylum seekers with resources to be supported as they arrive and integrate in the US and LGBTQ+ organizations that facilitate community building and organizing opportunities toward queer and trans migrant liberation.