With its aggressive mass deportation campaign, the Trump administration is attempting to reshape long-standing U.S. immigration policy — and increasingly defying constitutional guardrails in the process.

On this episode, experts examine the legal and social implications of the administration’s unconventional targeting of legal permanent and temporary residents, asylum seekers, and even foreign students, and well as the administration’s overt challenges to judicial authority and due process rights.

Host David Satterfield was joined by Tony Payan, director of the Baker Institute Center for the U.S. and Mexico; Luz Maria Garcini, assistant professor of psychological sciences at Rice University and director of the Center for Community and Public Health at Rice’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research; and David Donatti, a senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Texas and lecturer at Rice.

This conversation was recorded on April 21, 2025 in front of a live studio audience. Learn about future live recordings of the “Baker Briefing” podcast by subscribing to our “Events Digest” newsletter at https://www.bakerinstitute.org/newsletter.

You can follow @BakerInstitute on X, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube, and learn more about our data-driven, nonpartisan policy research and analysis at bakerinstitute.org.

Introducing “The Two-Handed Economist” — a new podcast with timely analysis of economic policy developments from John Diamond, director of the Center for Tax and Budget Policy.

Why a two-handed economist? President Harry Truman famously asked for a one-handed economist, tired of hearing, “On the one hand, this,” and “On the other hand, that.” On “The Two-Handed Economist,” we embrace the complexity that a one-handed economist might shy away from.

Our first episode dives deep into the economic fallout from the Trump administration’s sweeping new tariffs, unpacking the market turmoil, impacts for consumers, and global response. A transcript is available here.

Subscribe now on your favorite podcast platform.

Mentioned:

“Innovation and Trade Policy in a Globalized World” by Ufuk Akcigit (University of Chicago, NBER, CEPR), Sina T. Ates (Federal Reserve Board), and Giammario Impullitti (University of Nottingham), 2021.

This episode was recorded on April 15, 2025.

You can follow @BakerInstitute on X, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube, and learn more about our data-driven, nonpartisan policy research and analysis at bakerinstitute.org.

April 15 marked the second anniversary of the ongoing civil war in Sudan, a conflict that has resulted in 150,000 people killed, over 10 million displaced, and an estimated 25 million at risk of starvation.

Sudan has seen civil war before in its tumultuous postcolonial history — but this conflict is different. Susan Stigant, former director of the Africa Program at the U.S. Institute for Peace, and Salah Ben Hammou, a postdoctoral associate at the Baker Institute Center for the Middle East, explore the political and ethnic tensions fueling the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, the impacts of aid budget cuts, and prospects for peace and rebuilding.

This episode was guest-hosted by Kelsey Norman, fellow for the Middle East and director of the Women’s Rights, Human Rights and Refugees Program. It was recorded on April 15, 2025.

Follow @BakerInstitute on X, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube, and learn more about our data-driven, nonpartisan policy research and analysis at bakerinstitute.org.