Hundreds of thousands of Central Americans flee their violence-torn countries each year only to be refused help in the U.S., according to the DeKalb Interfaith Network, an organization for peace and justice.

To bring this to the attention of NIU students and residents of DeKalb, the NIU chapter of Amnesty International is co-sponsoring the DeKalb-area Interfaith Network’s program, “The Flood of Refugees From Central America.”

The program will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 23 at 8 p.m. in the Holmes Student Center Room 506.

Adriana Bartow, who will speak at the event, escaped to America in 1984 as the security forces of her native Guatemala killed her father and left her without knowledge of the location of her sister, two brothers and two young daughters.

Bartow will discuss the plight of Central American immigrants who are unable to find sanctuary in America and the state of violence throughout their native countries.

Cele Meyer, co-coordinator of the Interfaith Network, said the American government did not consider terror a good enough reason to allow immigrants to stay in the United States legally.

“It is a very hard struggle for the immigrants,” Meyer said. “It needs to be brought to more people’s attention.”