With a focus on immigrant and human rights, Schey has challenged discriminatory policies and advocated for vulnerable communities in the U.S.and abroad. Schey has emerged as a leading voice in the fight for human rights. The Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law, which Schey founded in 1980, has facilitated substantial changes in the U.S. Immigration system, including winning a Supreme Court decision which has allowed several million immigrant children to attend the public schools, winning a major lawsuit requiring all arrested immigrants to be advised of their right to not answer questions, to have a deportation hearing, and to have a lawyer, and the right of hundreds of thousands of detained immigrant children to humane and safe conditions of. detention and prompt release and unification with their families living in the U.S.  Schey worked on the Cuba Five case with Leonard Weinglass, represented Chilean guerrilla leader Sergio Buschmann wanted in Chile in connection with the 1986 assassination attempt against Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, represented the STECEL labor leaders imprisoned during the civil war, won a decision by the Organization of American States declaring the US policy of interdicting and deporting Haitian refugees a violation of the right to life, and rescued Dennis Orlando Gallardo Quintanilla, a 21-month-old American citizen kidnapped by the Salvadoran army after assassinating his parents.