Psych Grad Advocates for Immigrant Rights, Credits Jesuit Teachings

Dec 1, 2018

Sometimes a life of service begins almost by accident. That's what happened to psychology major Bill Schwarz in 2002 at a presentation by fellow Xavier students who had returned from Nicaragua. His freshman Spanish class required him to attend extracurricular cultural events, and this fit the bill.

"It would be a fun way to hear what they'd done and get some credit," he says.

But Schwarz didn't know how deeply the students' photos of disabled children in an orphanage outside Managua would move him. In fact, they overwhelmed him. He'd never seen such suffering. There weren't enough wheelchairs at the orphanage, so children with cerebral palsy and atrophied limbs lay on beanbags. Some had been abandoned by their parents. The photos kindled something in Schwarz.

"They kind of broke my heart," he says. "I left the presentation that day feeling like I knew that was exactly what I was going to do my sophomore year."

Less than a year later, that's exactly what he did. He worked at the same orphanage as part of the Academic Service Learning program. The experience was so transformative that once he came back, Schwarz became involved in the Dorothy Day Center for Faith and Justice where he nurtured his new-found passion for service.

"I found a sense of community and like-minded people," he says. "That was as much a part of my college experience as the classroom."

Schwarz also worked at a community housing nonprofit in Cincinnati's Over-the-Rhine neighborhood and with Catholic Social Services as a Xavier Summer Service intern. He helped refugees from Sudan navigate the bus system, find furniture and register for English language classes. On World Refugee Day, he organized a soccer match between refugees and Xavier students.

Working with refugees was the gateway to Schwarz's current role as a legal advocate for the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project in Tacoma, Wash. The 2005 psychology graduate spends time in the Northwest Detention Center, where up to 1,500 immigrants are held during deportation proceedings. He educates detainees on their legal rights and provides direct services to help them obtain their benefits or proper release.

"Immigration is a civil proceeding," Schwarz explains. "Most immigrants have to navigate a complicated and challenging system without a lawyer. We try to help them."

The people Schwarz meets are often highly stressed and frightened. "For a lot of our clients, we're the only people who come to see them. It's important to be present for them," he says.

Compassion drives much of Schwarz's work. It's a value that was fostered by his Jesuit education and has been reinforced by Pope Francis.

"Helping people seek their rights and not be abused by a system is absolutely a Jesuit ideal," he says. "Francis is challenging us to question the righteousness of our systems."