Pamela Metz

Homelessness and Mental Illness: How Trump’s New Executive Order Could Backfire In late July, President Trump signed an executive order urging local authorities to find ways to force homeless individuals with mental illness into hospitals. On its face, some observers might find t...

Homelessness and Mental Illness: How Trump’s New Executive Order Could Backfire thefulcrum.us/governance-l...

With homelessness expert @charleywillison.bsky.social and the excellent support of @scholars.org !

YouTube video by PBS NewsHour How politicians are picking their voters with partisan redistricting

Watch Video of My Appearance on the @pbs.org News Hour Talking about the New Redistricting Wars and the Implications for the Voting Rights Act
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y75I...

Hats off to these fantastic scholars for publishing their first book—excited to celebrate with them at the ASA annual meeting!

In honor of the event, @harvardpress.bsky.social will be offering 20% off Inherited Inequality thru 9/30.

Just use code ASA20 here: www.hup.harvard.edu/books/978067...

This interview is so clear & quietly devastating. Public media as we understand it is over.

This is not about the end of NPR & PBS. They might be able to find ways to continue to make programs. Instead of content, this is about the capacity to broadcast at all - antennae, transmitters, licenses. 🧵

Policy Outreach Program Fellowship | American Sociological Association NOTE: Applications are closed for the 2025-2026 Cohort. Please check back in April 2026 for details about the 2026-2027 application process

I've been selected to be an inaugural fellow of the American Sociological Association's new Policy Outreach Program.

For the next year, we will meet with legislative offices, think tanks, and policymakers to learn how to gain more influence on public policy and popular opinion.

Many thanks to @scholars.org for the opportunity to discuss how the policy changes in the One Beautiful Bill Act will affect young children and their families. (Spoiler alert: it's not good.)

On July 4, President Trump signed a major law reshaping the social safety net, cutting #Medicaid, #SNAP, and more. In this No Jargon episode, @twmorrissey.bsky.social (@au-spa.bsky.social) breaks down the law & its impact on families and young children.

🎧 Listen now: scholars.org/podcast/when...

We started collecting the data for this project almost ten (!!!) years ago. Very happy to finally be able to share this paper coauthored with Laura Tach, @microsamonomics.bsky.social, & @acooperstock.bsky.social

Federal place-based policy and the geography of inequality in the United States, 1990–2019 Abstract. This paper assesses the growth and spatial distribution of federal place-based policies in the United States. Using a novel dataset of federal pl

📣 Hot off the press 📣
We document tremendous growth in U.S. federal place-based funding, show it has disproportionately gone to areas with more nonprofits & stronger housing markets, and find a pattern of cumulative advantage in funding among high-poverty neighborhoods.

doi.org/10.1093/sf/s...

Trump’s big bill is not the least bit beautiful | Opinion In Maine, the impacts will be especially harsh for low-income and older adults.

Maine @scholars.org member Sandy Butler has an op-ed in @pressherald.com today which maps out the likely impact of Trump's budget bill on low-income and older Mainers.

Who Is ICE Arresting? - Immigration Research Initiative The Trump administration has radically expanded and changed the nature of immigration enforcement in the United States in the last six months. At the forefront of the push for increased immigration en...

Must-read report from two first-rate researchers, including Chloe East: immresearch.org/publications...

Figure 1 shows Disability Rates in the US States and Puerto Rico, with the percentage of residents living with disabilities by county.

Rural communities in the US are home to a significant population of people with disabilities, yet #data on their experiences remain limited. New #research outlines the need for data to drive effective rural policy & shares recommendations for advancing rural #disability data. urbn.is/RuralDisabil...

The Trump administration just awarded Virginia-based Acquisition Logistics a $1.26 billion contract to operate a 5,000-bed tent camp on Fort Bliss in El Paso. The company previously got just $29 million in DOD logistics contracts over 5 years; now it'll run the largest detention camp in the US.

I told my 11-year-old about the @cakeresistance.bsky.social, and she was all in. She even helped me mock up some logo designs ❤️

New pub on the effects of Florida’s 2023 anti immigrant law on healthcare hesitancy..

The USDA Wouldn’t Let Her Give Up Her House When She Couldn’t Pay Her Mortgage. Instead, It Crushed Her With Debt. The USDA failed to follow its own guidance for a rural mortgage program, taking years to foreclose on delinquent loans. As a result, 55 Maine borrowers racked up, on average, $110,000 in additional…

When a Maine woman tried to give back the home she purchased via a federal mortgage program, the USDA ignored her.

Thirteen years passed before the agency served her with foreclosure papers — leaving her with a bill 10x what the home is worth now.

With @bangordailynews.bsky.social

The IRS Is Building a Vast System to Share Millions of Taxpayers’ Data With ICE ProPublica has obtained the blueprint for the Trump administration’s unprecedented plan to turn over IRS records to Homeland Security in order to speed up the agency’s mass deportation efforts.

The IRS Is Building a Vast System to Share Millions of Taxpayers’ Data With ICE www.propublica.org/article/trum...

How To Build A Police State (With The Supreme Court’s Blessing) Podcast Episode · Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts · 07/19/2025 · 52m

It was my total pleasure chatting with @dahlialithwick.bsky.social for the Amicus podcast. Check it out! podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...

Author and scholar Irene Vega discusses her book 'Bordering on Indifference' NPR speaks with scholar and author Irene Vega about her detailed analysis of the principles that shape how U.S. immigration agents understand and carry out their professional responsibilities.

Check out this @npr.org Morning Edition interview with host @amartinezla.bsky.social & Bordering on Indifference author Irene I. Vega & learn more about the principles that shape how U.S. immigration agents understand & carry out their professional responsibilities: www.npr.org/2025/07/16/n....

Omaha immigration raids are symptom of broken system • Nebraska Examiner Worksite raids are no solution. They are a symptom of a broken system that does not meet the needs of employers or workers.

@nebraskaexaminer.com published this OpEd today. Athena Ramos and I wrote it in response to the recent June 10 worksite raid at Glenn Valley Foods in Omaha, #Nebraska. But this isn’t just an Omaha story—it’s a systemic failure.

Thank you, @scholars.org , for your support.
bit.ly/44SLwZ8

Author and scholar Irene Vega discusses her book 'Bordering on Indifference' NPR speaks with scholar and author Irene Vega about her detailed analysis of the principles that shape how U.S. immigration agents understand and carry out their professional responsibilities.

UCLA LPPI faculty expert, Irene Vega, speaks with NPR about her detailed analysis from her book “Bordering on Indifference,” which dives into the principles that shape how U.S. immigration agents understand and carry out their professional responsibilities. Check it out: www.npr.org/2025/07/16/n...

Professional Development Grant - Hispanic Research Center The Center will provide awards of up to $2,850 for professional development or as seed funds to support research activities.

Are you an emerging scholar studying poverty, economic well-being, & #ECE among Hispanic children/families? Apply for Hispanic Research Center's new professional development grant to enhance your growth as a scholar and educator. Applications due 8/13. www.hispanicresearchcenter.org/professional...

Wisconsin Supreme Court Strikes Down 1849 Abortion Ban

Well this is a first. My 2004 ASR article with Nicola Beisel on abortion in the 19th century was cited in the recent Wisconsin Supreme Court decision striking down the state's 1849 abortion ban!
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/02/u...

Trump is putting crucial school funding at risk by dismantling the Department of Education: See how much federal funding your school district could lose Last month, President Trump ordered Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to move forward with plans to close the Department of Education (ED). While this move is illegal and has been met with litigati...

And if you want to see the local impact of proposed federal funding cuts for local districts, one of the tools I like is from EPI. The district I grew up in (Mobile, Alabama) gets 24% of its education funding from the federal govt. It may lose funding for 600+ teachers.

www.epi.org/blog/trump-i...

Trump free to begin gutting Department of Education after Supreme Court ‘shadow’ ruling − 5 essential reads The justices overruled a lower court that had paused the Trump administration’s plan to fire over 1,300 workers.

See our thoughts & those of other scholars examining why the layoffs at the U.S. Department of Educations are so concerning for students and protecting their civil rights.

With @maithgopalan.bsky.social

theconversation.com/trump-free-t...

What a ‘Spiral of Silence’ Can Do to a Democracy Protests show people they are not alone in caring about an issue.

“The fact that organized protest can break the spiral of silence, and correct our impressions of what other Americans think, is one of the most immediate and important values of protesting in the first place. Scientists have [shown] protests update our impressions of what other citizens believe.”

2/2 Btw, I coauthored an amicus brief with three other political scientists in which we laid out the consequences of provisions that the voter suppression team wanted left out of the language voters will read. #mepolitics www.courts.maine.gov/news/titcomb...

This is very good news for voters who will get ballot language that includes all the restrictions on absentee voting that has helped them vote. #mepolitics

Profs & Pints DC: Understanding Immigration Profs and Pints DC presents: “Understanding Immigration,” a deep and nuanced examination of today’s immigration realities, trends, and challenges, with Ernesto Castañeda, professor of sociology and di...

I will be presenting a data-driven examination of today’s immigration realities, trends & challenges. Immigration remains poorly understood & with myths about it often perpetuated. Join us. Penn Social is a block from the Gallery Place/ Chinatown metro stop.
www.ticketleap.events/tickets/prof...