
OUR TEAM


DYLAN CORBETT
Executive Director
Dylan Corbett is the founding executive director of the Hope Border Institute and has over fifteen years of experience working in international and human development globally and in the borderlands. Dylan has served as an official at the Vatican's Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development and also coordinated the work of the Vatican's Migrants & Refugees Section in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. Dylan previously worked with the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development as well as with the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, the USCCB's national anti-poverty program. He has studied at the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, and the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, Italy. Dylan is the chair of the Commission on Migration for the Diocese of El Paso. He is a board member of the Border Immigration Law & Justice Center, a member of the Texas Advisory Committee of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, a member of the advisory board of the Texas Resilient States Project, and he is also a consultant to the USCCB Committee on Migration. Dylan lives in El Paso with his wife and two children.

MONICA ANDREWS
Executive Assistant
Originally from South Carolina, Monica spent twenty years living across the country and overseas as a military spouse before her family returned to El Paso, TX to make it their forever home. Monica holds a bachelor's degree in comprehensive special education from Converse University. After working with migrant populations in Austria, she developed a passion for those seeking asylum and other displaced persons and has experience working with local migrant shelters. Monica is the mother of four children and loves to read in her free time.

JESÚS DE LA TORRE
Assistant Director for Global Migration
Originally from Spain, Jesús has a Master's in Migration Studies at the University of San Francisco under a Fulbright scholarship. He holds a Bachelor's in International Relations (studied in Spain and Brazil) and a Master's in European Union. He has been honored to accompany migrant justice advocacy movements in Spain, the US, and Central America. His research interests focus on border externalization policies, comparative migration policies, and the root causes of forced migration.

LUZ DEL VALLE
Administrative Specialist
Lucy del Valle is an accountant by training with a degree in Certified Public Accounting from the University of San Carlos of Guatemala. She has worked in government, the nonprofit sector and with international organizations, including the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), and she holds a certificate in NGO administration from the FOCSIV Institute in Rome, Italy. Lucy is a mother of two young children and an active community volunteer in the borderlands.

MARIA FUENTES
Humanitarian Action Coordinator
Originally from Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Maria holds a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work from the Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua. With over six years of experience promoting social justice, human dignity and the restoration of human rights, Maria has supported children, adolescents, unaccompanied individuals and family groups in contexts of human mobility. She currently resides in El Paso, Texas, where she continues her dedication to supporting and working on behalf of the migrant community.

ASTRID LIDEN
Communications Officer
The proud daughter of immigrants, Astrid is originally from New Jersey and has also lived in Missouri and Texas — she now proudly calls Minnesota home. She holds a Master's in Refugee & Forced Migration Studies and a Master of Public Policy, both from the University of Oxford, where she studied as a Rhodes Scholar. She also earned a Bachelor's degree in Political Science and Latin American & Caribbean Studies from Columbia University, where her research centered on Venezuelan forced displacement — a cause very close to her heart.
Astrid brings experience in communications, policy, and advocacy from her work with faith-based migration and advocacy organizations in Minnesota, New York City, Santiago de Chile, such as with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and Servicio Jesuita a Migrantes (SJM) Chile, and most recently Bogotá with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). She is passionate about amplifying the voices of forcibly displaced populations and those who serve them, as well as exploring the Church's role in addressing their needs. In her free time, Astrid loves singing, rowing, traveling, visiting museums, speaking Spanglish, and discovering new coffee shops to find the best "daily sip."

AIMÉE SANTILLÁN
Policy Analyst
Born and raised in El Paso, Aimée graduated from the University of Texas at El Paso with a bachelor's in Psychology and Philosophy. She recently earned her Master's degree in Philosophy at the same university. Aimée brings years of experience working in public policy, including immigration, and loves reading and discovering new things.