Press

The UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute (UCLA LPPI) has released its 2025 update to the Latino Data Hub (LDH), expanding the platform’s capacity to analyze and visualize the conditions shaping Latino life across the United States.

Press Release & Media Advisory → Criminal Justice

Statement From UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute Executive Director Sonja Diaz in Response to the Verdict of the Derek Chauvin Trial

Statement from Sonja Diaz, Executive Director of the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute on the verdict of the Derek Chauvin trial:

Laura E. Gómez in The 19th: “How the pandemic has widened the Latina wealth gap”

“The very fact of treating Latinos as an ethnic group as opposed to as a racial group is part of the way Latinos have been racialized in the United States,” says Laura E. Gómez.

Efrén Pérez in The Columbus Dispatch: “Opinion: Could ‘cancel culture’ cancel structural injustice?”

Efrén Pérez, associate professor of political science and sociology at Vanderbilt, calls implicit bias “an umbrella term for a variety of attitudes, beliefs, knowledge and stereotypes that we all carry to some degree. They tend to be automatically triggered, hard to control and can often influence what we say and do without our awareness.”

Nicholas Espíritu in The Conversation: “Democratic bill attempts to undo voter restrictions of past 15 years”

LPPI Expert Nicholas Espíritu writes on the new voting rights legislation, For the People Act of 2021 (H.R.1), sponsored and passed in the House by Democrats and unanimously opposed by Republicans. He argues that H.R.1 aims to remove barriers and structural hurdles to voter participation and fairness (Also: Yahoo! News).

Chon Noriega in The Hollywood Reporter: “Danny Ramirez Lifts Off with ‘Falcon and the Winter Soldier'”

“A lot of the excitement had to do with the introduction of a new character, Joaquín Torres, and the sense that he would evolve into the next superhero,” says Chon Noriega, a UCLA professor of film, television and digital media, of Ramirez’s Falcon debut. “But there’s another reason for the excitement. Often, Latino characters that appear…

David Hayes-Bautista in Los Angeles Times: “COVID-19 vaccine inequities persist in L.A. County despite progress in underserved areas”

On top of an increased likelihood of exposure, Latinos also are less likely to have access to quality care due to long-entrenched structural inequities, “which is a recipe for not good things,” according to Dr. David Hayes-Bautista, a distinguished professor of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA (Also: Yahoo).

UCLA’s Latino Policy and Politics Institute (LPPI) in azcentral: “Brnovich takes on Biden’s immigration policies in court in series of federal lawsuits”

A study published last week by UCLA’s Latino Policy and Politics Institute found that the implementation of the rule has created a “chill effect” among immigrant families that is expected to last for quite some time.

Arturo Vargas Bustamante & Sonja Diaz in The Commonwealth Fund: “Can Changing the Public Charge Rule Improve the Health and Lives of Children?”

Arturo Vargas Bustamante and Sonja Diaz of UCLA’s Latino Policy & Politics Institute argue that COVID-19 has made it even more important to increase immigrants’ trust and participation in public health benefit programs, including marketplace enrollment. Otherwise, immigrant families, they say, will not seek needed care, including COVID-19 vaccination and treatment.

David Hayes-Bautista in The Sacramento Bee: “COVID-19: Kings County saw a 90% Increase in Latino Immigrant Deaths in 2020”

“They work hard, have strong family values, don’t use welfare, are healthy, don’t drink, don’t smoke, etcetera — but for all that work ethic, they are very poorly rewarded. The harder Latinos work, the poorer they are, the less likely they are to have health insurance. They get punished for good behavior,” says Dr. David Hayes-Bautista, UCLA…

Arturo Vargas Bustamante in The Sacramento Bee: “Working-age Latino Immigrants 11 Times More Likely to die”

“Many of these immigrants are not able to work in professions that could easily be done remotely. They are working in the field, they are working in the kitchens, they are working in professions that some people have classified as essential services … that makes them vulnerable to catching COVID-19,” says Dr. Arturo Vargas Bustamante (Also: Fresno Bee, Modesto…

Arturo Vargas Bustamante in Health Affairs: “Tips For Navigating A Request for Abstracts”

Health Affairs reported on a webinar with Dr. Arturo Vargas Bustamante, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health associate professor of health policy and management, about what makes a successful abstract for someone hoping to publish in Health Affairs.

Chon Noriega in UCLA Newsroom: “Eight UCLA professors awarded 2021 Guggenheim Fellowships”

UCLA led all universities and academic institutions in 2021 with eight professors selected to receive fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, Chon Noriega, distinguished professor of film, television and digital media has been named a fellow.

Kelly Lytle Hernandez in Los Angeles Times: “Here’s the complete list of virtual panels for the 2021 Festival of Books”

April 23rd at 1 p.m.: Gustavo Arellano in conversation with California MacArthur Fellows Gustavo Arellano, Times California columnist and host of an upcoming daily news podcast from The Times, will chat with recent MacArthur fellows Natalia Molina (2020) and Kelly Lytle Hernandez (2019) for a discussion about the historical roots of our immigration policy and the evolution…

David Hayes-Bautista in USA Today: “California Latinos ‘Multiple’ Times More Likely to die Than Whites”

“What was astounding was that in every age group, the Latino death rate was multiple times higher than white – multiple,” said Dr. David Hayes-Bautista. “Given that we see basically on both ends of the country – California and New York – fairly similar patterns, I would right now be very comfortable generalizing it out to…

Read More | April 9, 2021

News Articles & Media Coverage → Immigrant Rights

Cecilia Menjívar in Mother Jones: “What We Should Talk About When We Talk About Root Causes of Migration”

Cecilia Menjívar, a professor of sociology at UCLA points out that the conversation around “root causes of migration” often ignores the key role the United States has historically played in creating and perpetuating some of these very drivers of migration it now is attempting to mitigate. “You can’t leave that part out,” she says.

Read More | April 9, 2021

News Articles & Media Coverage → Democracy & Voting Rights

Will Arizona follow Georgia on voting restrictions‪?‬

“All of these voter suppression bills are coming at a time, and in jurisdictions, where we saw growth in the electorate, particularly amongst Latino voters,” says Sonja Diaz.

Read More | April 9, 2021

News Articles & Media Coverage → COVID-19

California Latinos of all age groups ‘multiple’ times more likely to die from COVID-19 than whites, UCLA study finds

“What was astounding was that in every age group, the Latino death rate was multiple times higher than white – multiple,” said David Hayes-Bautista, UCLA professor of public health and medicine and lead author of the study. The death disparities, he said, have “shown a glaring spotlight” on a long history of barriers to health care.

Read More | April 9, 2021

News Articles & Media Coverage → Immigrant Rights

These ‘political orphans’ deserve help

Cecilia Menjivar of UCLA says, “It amounts to a social death in many ways” on the precarious immigration status of many TPS recipients.

Read More | April 9, 2021

News Articles & Media Coverage → Demography & Population Studies

These California Latinos didn’t grow up speaking Spanish. Here’s why

“The vast majority of California’s bilingual programs were gutted. That whole generation had minimal, fig-leaf bilingual education,” said Otto Santa Ana, a professor emeritus of Chicano/a studies at UCLA.

Latino Newscast: Comprehensive Immigration Reform Would Help Economic Recovery + Labor Law Protects You Against Retaliation for Immigration Status, California Commissioner Says.

LPPI’s Research Director, Rodrigo Domínguez Villegas shares the results of a recent LPPI study that provides figures on how the legalization of the 11 million undocumented immigrants could help the economic recovery of the country.

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