The Opportunity Maker
Senior Emerson Immigration Fellow, State of Illinois
From door knocking just out of college to her current position the Illinois Department of Human Services’ senior Emerson immigration fellow, Ruth Lopez-McCarthy has spent her life fighting for immigrant rights.
Ruth Lopez-McCarthy (LAW ’09)Right after college, Ruth Lopez-McCarthy (LAW ’09) started Doorknocking. It was the community organizing, block club kind of outreach: pushing for more alley lights, safety patrols, and better garbage pickup.
On the first day, she knocked on the door of a childhood friend. They talked about their childhood, growing up in the Belmont-Cragin neighborhood of Chicago.
“I met friends and leaders who would share their immigration stories with me. I really felt a calling to answer, with my skills and lived experience. I know what it is to be a child of immigrants, with that understanding that [the life you built] could all go away,” Lopez-McCarthy says.
With a father who immigrated from Peru and a mother who immigrated from Colombia, Lopez-McCarthy—born in Chicago—didn’t learn to speak English until she was five. Her father was imprisoned when she was 1-year-old, leaving her mother and grandmother to raise her for a time. Her mother went back to school to become a public school teacher.
Her father, upon being released, had a deportation hearing. He received representation from immigration services and was able to stay, eventually becoming a tool and die maker and never breaking the law again. She thought a lot about her father as she decided upon a career.
“In Catholic school, I learned about liberation theology…but it wasn’t until I was in college that I really decided and thought about what I wanted to do,” she says.
This story was featured in the summer 2023 issue of Illinois Tech Magazine. You can read the full story on the Illinois Tech Magazine website.