Baker Briefing

With its sweeping mass deportation campaign, the Trump administration is attempting to reshape long-standing U.S. immigration policy — and increasingly defying constitutional guardrails in the process. Tony Payan, Luz Maria Garcini, and David Donatti explore the legal and social issues at stake on the “Baker Briefing” podcast.

Susan Stigant, Salah Ben Hammou, and Kelsey Norman explore the tensions fueling the ongoing civil war in Sudan and the response to the resulting humanitarian catastrophe on the “Baker Briefing” podcast.

With the shrinking of foreign aid budgets in the U.S. and Europe, what lies ahead for the international aid system? Visiting fellow Sonali Korde joins Director David M. Satterfield to discuss on the “Baker Briefing” podcast.

Measles, declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000, is now resurging rapidly in some parts of the country. Dr. Peter Hotez, a Baker Institute fellow, vaccine scientist, physician, and public health advocate, discusses the misinformation fueling the outbreak on the “Baker Briefing” podcast.

On the latest episode of “Baker Briefing,” Kirstin R.W. Matthews, Alicia L. Johnson, and Yousif Shamoo discuss the risks, benefits, and oversight mechanisms in place surrounding gain-of-function research — and how federal budget cuts and layoffs could make the endeavor less secure.

Houston Independent School District is under capacity overall, but some of its campuses face a paradoxical challenge: overcrowding. Bill King and Erin Baumgartner joined the “Baker Briefing” podcast to explore what’s causing the imbalance, how the state’s proposed school voucher legislation could factor in, and paths forward for HISD.

Julia Blocher, a project lead at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and a visiting scholar at the Baker Institute this spring, joined the “Baker Briefing” podcast to discuss the phenomenon of climate migration around the world and in the United States.

School voucher programs have swept across the U.S. over the past decade, and now the Texas Legislature looks poised to enact one of its own. On the “Baker Briefing” podcast, child health policy scholar Christopher F. Kulesza and fellow Edward M. Emmett discuss what such a program could mean for schools and families across the state.

How can cultural exchange shape foreign policy? William Luers joined the “Baker Briefing” podcast to discuss the intersections of art, diplomacy, and international relations, drawing from his time as a U.S. diplomat in Europe and Latin America and as president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Alisha Small joined the “Baker Briefing” podcast to discuss the impacts of two decades of urban revitalization efforts on small businesses in Houston’s Third Ward.