Julie Schwietert

Julie Schwietert Collazo is the co-founder and director of Immigrant Families Together (IFT), an all-volunteer organization founded in response to the zero tolerance policy that resulted in the separation of thousands of immigrant parents and their children at the U.S.-Mexico border in 2018. She brings her background as a bilingual journalist and former social worker to bear on her work with IFT, which raised more than a million dollars in just over six months and has raised more than three million to date, posting bond for more than 100 detained parents, grandparents, and older siblings who were separated from children. The ongoing work of IFT involves providing support to these families -- housing, legal counsel, medical/dental/mental health care, and other necessities -- as they proceed with their immigration cases. Her work with IFT has been recognized by the New York State Senate and has been entered into the U.S. Congressional Record by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She was named one of FWD.US's 2019 Keeping Families Together champions. Along with one of the mothers supported by IFT, she is co-author of The Book of Rosy, which will be published in English and Spanish by HarperOne in June 2020. Her work has been published by a number of publications, including DISCOVER, National Geographic Traveler, Scientific American, and TIME, among many others.