In his first network interview since winning the election,President-elect Donald Trump reaffirmed plans to implement sweeping policies, including mass deportations, heavy tariffs, and ending birthright citizenship.
While promising to pardon January 6 rioters on a case-by-case basis, he downplayed retributive actions against political opponents. Trump also expressed willingness to explore legislative solutions for Dreamers and pledged not to restrict abortion pill access, highlighting a mix of hardline and pragmatic stances.
Faculty experts at the George Washington University are available to offer insight, commentary and analysis on this matter. If you would like to speak with an expert, please contact GW Media Relations at[email protected].
Immigration Policy
Elizabeth Vaquera is the inaugural Director of the Cisneros Hispanic Leadership Institute and an Associate Professor of Sociology and Public Policy and Public Administration at the George Washington University. Vaquera's research focuses on vulnerable and diverse groups, particularly Latinos/as and immigrants. Her work has analyzed the character and importance of immigrant status, race, and ethnic identity in outcomes such as education, health, and emotional and social well-being. In addition to an extensive body of work published in leading peer-reviewed journals, Vaquera is the co-author of several books, the most recent of which, Education and Immigration, examines the educational experiences of immigrants and their children living in the U.S.
Marie Price is Professor of Geography and International Affairs and is also the President of the American Geographical Society (2016- present). A Latin American and migration specialist, her studies have explored human migration’s impact on development and social change, especially at the urban scale. In terms of policy, she is interested in strategies that promote migrant inclusion as well as the use of geographic sciences and technologies to address inequality and promote development. Price is currently funded by the NSF doing research on the US Mexican Border in the Lower Rio Grande Valley in a project titled “Geographies of Migration and (In)Security”. She was a co-author on a report issued by the Organization of American States in 2023 on the role of local authorities in the reception and integration of immigrants and refugees in cities across the Americas.
Immigration Law
Cori Alonso-Yoder is an Associate Professor of Fundamentals of Lawyering at the GW Law School. Alonso-Yoder is nationally recognized scholar on immigration legislation and the impacts of state, local and federal laws on immigrant communities. She specializes on the health policy of immigration.
Alberto Benítez is a Professor of Clinical Law; and Director of GW Law’sImmigration Clinic. Professor Benítez is an expert in Immigration Law. Benítez supervises students that handle a variety of immigration law matters including representing noncitizens, writing comments to proposed federal regulations, and disseminating information to the public.
Political Implications
Peter Loge is the director of GW’s School of Media and Public Affairs. He has nearly 30 years of experience in politics and communications, having served as a deputy to the chief of staff for Sen. Edward Kennedy during the 1995 shutdown, a VP at the US Institute of Peace in 2013, and held senior positions for three members of the U.S. House of Representatives. Loge currently leads theProject on Ethics in Political Communication at the School of Media and Public Affairs and continues to advise advocates and organizations.
Todd Belt is the director of the Political Management Program at the GW Graduate School of Political Management. Belt is an expert on the presidency, campaigns and elections, mass media and politics, public opinion, and political humor. In addition to his expertise, Belt is co-author of four books and helps to run GW’s political poll, which recently sharednew findings.
Lesley Lopez is the director of Public Relations and Communications program as well as an Assistant Professor at the Graduate School of Political Management. Lopez is an expert in media relations, digital storytelling, content creation, inclusive strategic communications and coalition building, and writing. She has served as a journalist, founder of a boutique PR firm, Chief Communications and Marketing Officer for the political start-up Run for Something, head of global communications for the U.S.-China Business Council and the Director of Communications for the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee. She also is currently a state delegate in the Maryland General Assembly, representing District 39, and serves as Deputy Majority Whip.
Imani M. Cheers, an associate professor of digital storytelling, is an award-winning digital storyteller, director, producer, and filmmaker. As a professor of practice, she uses a variety of mediums including video, photography, television, and film to document and discuss issues impacting and involving people of the African Diaspora. Her scholarly focus is on the intersection of women/girls, technology, health, conflict, agriculture, and the effects of climate change in sub-Saharan Africa.
Historical Context
Matt Dallek, a professor at GW’s Graduate School of Political Management, is a political historian with expertise in the intersection of social crises and political transformation, the evolution of the modern conservative movement, and liberalism and its critics. Along with four co-authored books, Dallek is the author of Birchers: How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right, which explores the history and influence of America’s right-wing activism.
Tariffs
Rodney Lake is a teaching instructor of finance and the director of the GW Investment Institute at the GW School of Business (GWSB). At the GW Investment Institute, Lake teaches courses associated with student investment funds as well as oversees portfolios, connects with alumni and industry practitioners, leads the GW Investment Institute Live Show and other events, and oversees GW Investment Institute’s day-to-day operations. Previously, Lake worked as a senior investment officer in the GW Investment Office and was previously a senior financial analyst in the Executive Vice President and Treasurer’s Office at GW.
Scheherazade Rehman is the director of the European Union Research Center and a professor of international finance, of business and of international affairs. She has advised a number of institutions including OPIC, USAID, U.S. State Department, The World Bank, IMF, and Central Banks and Finance Ministers of Turkey, Nigeria, Peru, Mongolia, Hungary, Poland, Russia and China.
Department of Government Efficiency
Richard J. Pierce, Lyle T. Alverson Professor of Law at the George Washington University Law School. Pierce is an expert on administrative law and government regulation. Pierce is the author of over twenty books and his work is often cited in judicial opinions, including dozens of opinions in the U.S. Supreme Court.
Susan Dudley is the founder and former director of theGeorge Washington University Regulatory Studies Center and distinguished professor of practice in the Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration. She is past president of the Society for Benefit Cost Analysis, a senior fellow with the Administrative Conference of the United States, a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration, on the board of the National Federation of Independent Businesses Legal Center and Economists Incorporated,and on the executive committee of the Federalist Society Administrative Law Group.
Federal Spending/Regulatory Policy
Joe Cordes is professor of Economics, Public Policy and Public Administration, and International Affairs and a co-director of the George Washington Regulatory Studies Center. He has been a consultant to the Washington, DC Tax Revision Commission, the RAND Corporation, and numerous government agencies including the Congressional Budget Office, Internal Revenue Service Office of Research, the U.S. Treasury Department, National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the National Research Council.
Sarah Hay is a policy analyst at the George Washington University Regulatory Studies Center. Her research interests include public participation and equity in the regulatory process and systems of government. She is also studying the Congressional Review Act. Prior to joining the Center, Sarah worked at the George Washington University’s Division of Development and Alumni Relations.
International Relations
Bruce Dickson is a Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at the GW Elliott School of International Affairs. Dickson is an expert on U.S.-China relations, Chinese domestic politics, regimes and regime changes, and general comparative politics.
Robert Sutter is a Professor of Practice of International Affairs, has published 22 books, over 300 articles and several hundred government reports dealing with contemporary East Asian and Pacific countries and their relations with the United States. His areas of expertise include U.S.-China relations; China’s rise-domestic and international implications; Chinese foreign relations; Contemporary U.S. policy toward Asia and the Pacific; Political, security and economic development in Asia and the Pacific; History of China; Taiwan – internal and international affairs; US foreign policymaking and the role of Congress.
Steven Balla, associate professor and co-director of the GW Regulatory Studies Center, studies government transparency and public participation in policymaking in China and the United States. Balla is currently working on projects on congressional oversight of regulatory policymaking, polarization in public commenting on proposed rules, transparency and participation in state rulemaking, commenting on midnight regulations, policymaking innovation in China, transparency and participation in policymaking in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and the responsiveness of Chinese government officials to public feedback on draft laws and regulations.
Omar García-Ponce, an associate professor of political science and international affairs, writes and teaches on the causes and consequences of various forms of intrastate organized violence that are prevalent in low- and middle-income countries, ranging from local criminal gangs to armed rebellions and transnational organized crime groups. His regional expertise is in Latin America and he also teaches courses on US-Mexico relations and Latin American politics.
Reproductive Health
Julia Strasser, is the executive director of the Jacobs Institute of Women's Health and an assistant research professor of health policy and management at the GW Milken Institute School of Public Health. She is an expert on reproductive health care and access to essential care including abortion.
Sara Rosenbaum, is the emerita professor of health policy and management, and previously served as founding Chair of the Milken Institute School of Public Health Department of Health Policy at GW.
Elizabeth Borkowski is a senior research scientist in Health Policy and Management at the GW Milken Institute School of Public Health. Her areas of expertise include reproductive health and U.S. healthcare policy affecting women's health.
Linda Cassar, clinical associate professor at the GW School of Nursing, has worked primarily with the maternal/child health patient population over her 30 years as a nurse, working in labor and delivery, mother/baby, high-risk antepartum, and outpatient community perinatal education.
Sonia Suter is a professor of law at the George Washington University Law School and founding director of the Health Law Initiative. She is an expert on issues at the intersection of law, medicine, and bioethics, with a particular focus on reproductive rights.
Public Health
Sara Rosenbaum, is professor emerita of health law and policy and founding chair of the Department of Health Policy at the GW Milken Institute School of Public Health. She also holds an emerita title School of Law. She is a nationally recognized expert on health care access for vulnerable populations. She most recently worked on anamicus brief urging the Supreme Court to protect health and uphold the Emergency Treatment and Labor Act. Watchhere as she talks about the future of Medicare and Medicaid.
Jeffrey Levi, a professor of health policy and management at the GW Milken Institute School of Public Health. His work focuses on the intersection of public health, the health care system and the multi-sector collaborations required to improve health.
Anne Reid, is a lecturer in the Health Policy and Management Department at the GW Milken Institute School of Public Health. She can talk about the state of medicare and the impact this could have on the election. Watchhere as she talks about the future of these programs.
Alison Barkoff is the Harold and Jane Hirsh Associate Professor of Health Law and Policy at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at GW. She also serves as Director of the Hirsh Health Law and Policy Program.
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