1. Ethical Activism and the Greater Good
Profile of Ethics Center Alumna Christina Fialho
By Caroline Jaffe-Pickett, Assistant Director, Communications and Social Marketing
Christina Fialho’s life-changing experience as an Ethics Center Hackworth Fellow
(2005-2006) impressed upon her not only the importance of ethical reflection, but
of transforming thoughts into actions for the greater good. Now the co-founder
and co-executive director of Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in
Confinement (CIVIC - Endisolation.org), Fialho says, “The Hackworth Fellowship
empowered me to be a social entrepreneur by providing me with an
understanding of the deep moral divides in our increasingly globalized world.”
Fialho’s early interest in global ethics and immigration law and her work as a
fellow is rooted in two main factors: her parents’ immigration experience, which
influenced her from a young age, and working with Center Director of Campus

2. Ethics David DeCosse. Under DeCosses’ mentorship and along with a peer,
Andy Western, she co-taught and developed a curriculum for the first Ethics and
Globalization course at SCU. “David was one of the first professors to introduce
me to applied ethics, not only as a philosophical theory, but also as a framework
for developing solutions to some of our country’s major moral issues. He remains
one of my dearest mentors to this day,” she comments.
Fialho co-founded CIVIC astonishingly within just a few months of her graduation
from Santa Clara University Law School in 2012. CIVIC works to end
immigration detention, and is the only national nonprofit dedicated to increasing
awareness of the multibillion dollar immigration prison industry through weekly
detention visits. Fialho and co-founder Christina Mansfield have doubled the
organization’s staff in four years and fostered its growth to 1400 volunteers
visiting at 43 detention facilities in 19 states. CIVIC’s “Dignity Not Detention Act”
was approved by the California State Senate on June 3. This is a groundbreaking
measure authored by Senator Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) and co-sponsored
by CIVIC and the Immigrant Legal Resource Center to take a stand against
inhumane immigration detention conditions and abolish local government
contracting with for-profit immigration detention corporations. (Fialho is quoted in
this related Los Angeles Times feature, It's a Nightmare Inside: Bill Would Place
New Restrictions on Private Immigrant Detention Centers).
Given Fialho’s many accomplishments while a student at SCU, it’s no surprise
that she’s seen her career as a social entrepreneur and activist blossom. As an
undergrad, she volunteered with Catholic Charities Refugee Resettlement
Program. She also completed a one-year academic scholarship at Oxford
University as her class’s SCU Honors Program Oxford Scholar, where a paper
she wrote on animal ethics heightened her own awareness of animal rights and
affected her commitment to being a vegetarian for the last 12 years.
After graduating summa cum laude, Fialho worked in the nonprofit sector for a

3. few years before attending SCU Law. In law school, she launched the first of its
kind Immigration Detention Visitation Program in the East Bay, a pilot project
providing humanitarian support for individuals and families in detention. She also
worked for the Global Detention Project, where she conducted immigration
detention research in the U.S. and Brazil.
Fialho has received many awards, including the 2012 Echoing Green Fellowship
for CIVIC's social entrepreneurship and the 2013 Rockwood Fellowship for a
New California. She blogs for The Huffington Post, serves on the Board for the
ACLU of Southern California, and has argued before the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the Ninth Circuit.
Married to fellow SCU graduate John P. Rose who is an environmental attorney,
Fialho resides in Orange County, CA, and regularly publishes articles in the
national and local press on topics ranging from immigrant rights to mental health
and sexual assault issues. She also prioritizes finding balance in her life, and
makes time to enjoy her hobbies -- hiking and painting. While she never loses
sight of her goal of ending immigration detention in the United States, she holds
a place in her heart for her SCU past and her experiences at the Ethics Center.
Fialho’s advice for new graduates and those beginning their careers with
aspirations toward social entrepreneurship is seemingly simple, but reflects her
sophistication both in business and in life. “Never underestimate the value of
starting locally, and grow your knowledge and experience from there. What's
special about starting from the ground level is the opportunity to relate person to
person, which requires empathy," she adds. "And empathy is truly the heart of
transformation."