USC Equity Research Institute

08/10/2026

“Immigration is deeply personal to AAPIs, and the Trump Administration’s policies have irreparably changed our communities as a result.”

ERI’s analysis on our California Immigrant Data Portal found that ICE arrests of AAPI individuals in California increased by 1,109% between 2024 and 2025.

In our latest blog, AAPI FORCE Research Director Shine Cho draws on these findings to highlight how increased immigration enforcement is impacting AAPI communities across California, including Southeast Asian refugees facing deportation over decades-old convictions and families experiencing detention and separation.

Read the full blog:

08/04/2026

Immigration is a central driver of U.S. economic growth, labor force expansion, and population sustainability. Despite the importance of immigration, the U.S. has restricted legal pathways and relied on enforcement-centered policies that have exacerbated an economic crisis and disrupted regional growth across the U.S.

The Wealth of Welcome: Immigration Reform That Works for America, part of the Game Changers: Economic Policies for a Working America project, argues that America’s enforcement-heavy immigration strategy is failing economically, fiscally, and morally.

The authors lay out a three-part alternative: a citizenship-centered regularization program for the nation's 13 to 14 million undocumented residents; expanded and legally durable pathways for future immigration; and federally funded, regionally coordinated Offices of Immigrant Inclusion to strengthen local services and inclusion efforts.

Report:

Data and Analysis to Power Social Change

07/30/2026

We continue our conversation about the importance of public banks with a new blog by Rise Economy Statewide Organizing Director Doni Tadesse.

He makes the case for a California state public bank, highlighting the role that long-term, low-cost capital can play in expanding affordable housing, strengthening community lenders, and investing in communities across the state.

Data and Analysis to Power Social Change

07/28/2026

California has long been hailed as a glamorous multiracial state of possibility and upward mobility—a place where American Dreams are made. But there is another side to California, one built on racial and class inequality. Amidst the glitz and the glam, inequality in California is palpable, including high levels of racial residential segregation, a highly stratified education system, an affordable housing crisis, and increasing income and wealth inequality.

The USC Equity Research Institute and Rise Economy have collaborated on a new report, Financial Justice in California: A Public Bank for the Public Good.

Authors Ximena Sanchez Martinez, Vanessa Carter Fahnestock, and Jody Agius Vallejo explore how a California public bank could provide long-term, low-cost capital to expand affordable housing, strengthen community lenders, invest in rural infrastructure, support Tribal economic development, increase access to small business financing, and help communities recover from climate-related disasters.

Data and Analysis to Power Social Change

07/23/2026

Our Director Manuel Pastor will be joining PolicyLink’s 2026 Summit, as a speaker this August 24–28, 2026, in the Washington, DC area.

Timed to coincide with the nation’s 250th anniversary, the Summit will convene leaders, organizers, advocates, artists, researchers, and policymakers committed to shaping a future where everyone can thrive.

Learn more and register: https://plcylk.org/summit2026

07/22/2026

Our July newsletter was just release🗞️!

Dive into our 'The Wealth of Welcome: Immigration Reform that Works for America' paper and policy brief, Financial Justice in CA report, blogs, and so much more.

Join Communities for Just Schools Fund for a webinar launching Roadmaps to Power, a new report produced with support from the Nellie Mae Education Foundation and the USC Equity Research Institute. Hear directly from the organizers, researchers, and funders behind the report, which examines how grass...

07/20/2026

As climate change intensifies, understanding the effects of wildfires, hurricanes, flooding, heat waves, and other climate hazards is key to understanding patterns of inequality.

In a new article for the Russell Sage Foundation, ERI Director Manuel Pastor co-authors "The Social, Political, and Economic Consequences of Climate Hazards", examining how climate hazards are experienced unequally across places and demographic groups, the disparities that emerge during recovery, and the policies that shape climate policy.

The article also highlights novel research avenues for understanding the intersection of disasters and inequality.

07/16/2026

“The wealth of a nation is connected to the warmth of its welcome.”

In ERI's latest blog, Thai V. Le and Manuel Pastor build on our recently released report, The Wealth of Welcome: Immigration Reform That Works for America, arguing that America’s enforcement-heavy immigration strategy is failing economically, fiscally, and morally.

Through stories and research from communities across the country, they show how enforcement-driven policies harm workers, businesses, and local economies while making the case for a more welcoming approach to immigration.

Read the full blog:

Data and Analysis to Power Social Change

07/13/2026

ERI's Dr. Kim Tabari shares findings from interviews with organizations serving older adults across California, highlighting key issues including housing instability, health care access, data gaps, social and institutional marginalization, caregiver support, and intergenerational leadership.

Read our latest blog here:

Data and Analysis to Power Social Change

07/08/2026

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests increased dramatically in California during 2025, the first year of the second Trump administration, with particularly sharp increases among AAPI communities.

These findings are detailed in a new fact sheet by Sabrina Kim, Joanna Lee, and Clara Alvarez Caraveo on ERI's California Immigrant Data Portal. While overall ICE arrests in the state increased by 386% between 2024 and 2025, arrests of individuals with citizenship from Asian countries or Pacific Islands increased by 1,109%, raising the share of AAPI arrests from 4% to 11%. The data also show important shifts in who is being targeted, including increases in arrests of women, children, and individuals with no criminal record, challenging claims that expanded enforcement efforts are focused primarily on people with criminal histories.

ICE Arrests Among AAPI Californians Increased Tenfold in 2025