Diaz on What Voters Want to Hear From Biden

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Sonja Diaz, executive director of the Latino Policy and Politics Initiative at UCLA Luskin, offered commentary on the Democratic National Convention as a political analyst on KTLA News. Diaz joined a panel of experts who provided live commentary during the convention broadcasts over four evenings this week. On the final evening, when Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden delivered a key speech, Diaz noted, “Over the course of the last four years, we have seen more job losses than we have ever seen in American history. If Joe Biden can talk about two things, it’s health and jobs.” She added, “Vice President Biden has to talk about what America will look like in January 2021 and tell us about a future that does not have Americans dying unnecessarily and losing shelter with foreclosure on the horizon, but a future of prosperity and opportunity.” Diaz will also provide live commentary on KTLA during the Republican National Convention from Aug. 24-27.

 

Armenta on Biden’s Immigration Enforcement Plan

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Associate Professor of Urban Planning Amada Armenta spoke to the San Francisco Chronicle about Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s pledge to scale back laws requiring local police to participate in federal immigration enforcement. If elected, Biden plans to limit Section 287(g), which allows local governments to reach agreements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to aid in enforcing federal law. Armenta accompanied police officers on ride-alongs in Tennessee during the street-enforcement phase of 287(g). Her book about the experience noted that most of the immigrants held for deportation were detained for driving without a license. “Ending the ICE contracts would mean that millions of immigrants would be less afraid that a minor infraction (such as driving without a license or fishing without a license) would result in their deportation,” Armenta said. “ICE is not removing most people identified through 287(g) because they’re dangerous. They’re removing them because they have the authority to do so.”

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A Spotlight on Students’ Research to Aid Culver City

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The Culver City News spotlighted UCLA Luskin student research on housing, infrastructure and traffic in Culver City. Graduate students affiliated with the Lewis Center for Regional Studies published six reports on a variety of issues facing the city, under the supervision of Paavo Monkkonen, associate professor of urban planning and public policy. The first paper, “Advancing Community Engagement in Culver City,” highlighted the failure of many projects within the city to truly engage the community with planning and development. Citing five projects as case studies, the student researchers found that time restrictions and lack of funds were common barriers to inclusiveness. The researchers recommended the formation of a community engagement team and outreach plan to widen the participation of citizens in the city’s projects.

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Cuts in Transit Service Will Hurt Low-Income Riders, Taylor Warns

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Brian Taylor, director of the Institute of Transportation Studies at UCLA Luskin, spoke to City & State New York about the risks associated with cuts to public transit service as a result of pandemic-related fears. Emerging reports suggest that public transit does not pose a great risk of COVID-19 transmission as long as people practice safe behavior, the article noted. But public transit ridership has plummeted due to safety fears as well as to stay-at-home orders. Those now getting back on subways and buses are likely to be lower-income residents, people of color, essential workers and immigrants with less access to cars, and they would be hurt most by any cuts to service, said Taylor, a professor of urban planning and public policy. “The social service mission of public transit — providing mobility for those without — is the central role that the systems are playing right now,” he said.

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Park on Health Risk of Rising Temperatures for Essential Workers

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Assistant Professor of Public Policy R. Jisung Park spoke to NBC News about the high risks of illness and injury associated with working in hot environments. As temperatures rise across the country, essential workers face increased risk of heat illness, a common problem for delivery workers that has been exacerbated by the pandemic. An increase in the volume of packages being sent during the pandemic has stepped up pressure on delivery workers to work harder and avoid taking breaks. Many delivery vehicles and warehouses are not air-conditioned, and mandating masks can make it more difficult for the body to cool down. Experts have found that high temperatures can have devastating effects on the body. “Heat illnesses, heat cramps — these can be deadly,” Park said. “But there’s evidence that finds that hotter temperatures raise the risk of other injuries, too,” with instances of fatigue or fainting sometimes leading to organ failure.

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Reber on Desperate Need for School Relief Bill

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Associate Professor of Public Policy Sarah Reber was featured in a Politics! Politics! Politics! podcast about the need for a COVID-19 relief bill to support schools. The most important requirement for the safe reopening of schools is getting the pandemic under control to reduce community spread, Reber said. However, schools also urgently need a federal aid package to cover the shortfall in revenue facing state governments as well as the additional costs of socially distanced or remote learning. School districts will need to pay for additional equipment for remote instruction as well as increased staffing and additional training to ensure high quality of instruction, she said. The pandemic is “shining new light on pre-existing inequalities,” she said, and districts must be creative in how they provide remote instruction. Without a large, flexible federal aid package, “there won’t be a solution for schools to operate,” Reber said. The podcast segment featuring Reber begins at minute 1:02:05.

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Abrams Leads Dialogue on Racism, Mental Health

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Social Welfare Chair Laura Abrams led a dialogue about the links between structural racism and mental health in the inaugural installment of a new webinar series launched by the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare. “When we talk about poverty and homelessness and mental health and race, it’s all a larger conversation about what our profession can do at this juncture to move forward,” said Abrams, who was inducted into the national honor society this year. The webinar featured insights from scholars Sean Joe of Washington University in St. Louis, an authority on Black Americans and mental health, and David Takeuchi of the University of Washington, whose research focuses on health disparities among racial, ethnic and immigrant populations. The conversation was particularly valuable, Abrams said, because “sometimes we come into social work and people want to help and they want to change society, but they don’t always understand our history.”

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Miyashita Ochoa on HIV Criminalization Laws

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A Body Pro article about the human rights and public health implications of laws targeting HIV-positive and LGBTQ populations cited Ayako Miyashita Ochoa, adjunct assistant professor of social welfare. In California, people living with HIV can be prosecuted for specific offenses, Miyashita Ochoa explained. These laws are most likely to be enforced in marginalized communities, she said, noting that sex workers account for 95% of HIV-related prosecutions in the state. In addition, Miyashita Ochoa, who is also associate director of the UCLA California HIV/AIDS Policy Research Center, interviewed filmmaker and activist Marco Castro-Bojorquez about the role of HIV criminalization data in shifting the policy landscape. Human rights advocates are working to modify or repeal laws that single out people living with HIV while continuing to criminalize the behavior of people who intend to harm or infect others.

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Armenta on Complex Relationship Between Latinos, Law Enforcement

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Associate Professor of Urban Planning Amada Armenta was featured in a Conversations with Changemakers interview about the complex relationship between Latino communities and law enforcement. The criminalization of most everyday activities of undocumented immigrants makes it almost impossible for local law enforcement agencies not to help with immigration enforcement through their routine patrol practices, even in sanctuary cities, Armenta explained. Through interviews, Armenta found that many Latino immigrants had favorable views of the police. However, negative interactions with police — including searches without clear warrants, being pushed and having guns waved in their faces — made many hesitant to call the police in the future. “The same aggressive practices that lead to police murders and mass incarceration are the same aggressive policing practices that lead to arrests of Latinos and Latino immigrants and mass deportation,” she explained. Law enforcement’s history of protecting whiteness and property have made the notion of a “just criminal justice system” remote, she concluded.

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Research Points to ‘Eviction Cliff’

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A Los Angeles Times column on the threat of an “eviction cliff,” which could push hundreds of thousands of Californians out of their homes once legal protections expire, cited the UCLA Luskin Institute on Inequality and Democracy’s extensive research on the impending crisis. Professor Emeritus Gary Blasi of UCLA Law, one of the authors of the research, likened the expected wave of evictions to a major earthquake on the San Andreas Fault, “except the buildings will still be standing; it’s just the people that will be on the street.” In addition, the institute’s director, Professor Ananya Roy, shared highlights of the research along with short- and long-term policy goals at a webinar hosted by Occidental College. “What we need is a robust model of housing, not just emergency shelter,” Roy stressed. Other media outlets covering the institute’s research include Fox11 News, the Orange County Register,  Pasadena Now and the Los Angeles Daily News. 

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Watch the Fox11 News report