Since 2020, Latino voters have made up half of the growth in eligible voters in the United States. They are expected to play a uniquely decisive role in swing states that will likely decide the 2024 election.

UCLA faculty have expertise on this diverse demographic and the variety of issues influencing their lives and voting behavior, including health care, wages, immigration policy and education.


Jean Guerrero

Jean Guerrero

Guerrero is an expert on journalism and Latino representation in the media. She is a senior journalism fellow at the Latina Futures, 2050 Lab, a project from the Chicano Studies Research Center and the Latino Policy and Politics Institute that advances research, community partnerships and policy recommendations that influence the economic, social and political lives of Latinas across the U.S. Guerrero is the award-winning author of “Crux: A Cross-Border Memoir” and numerous investigative pieces for major news outlets such as the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and the Wall Street Journal. She won an Emmy for her work on the KPBS/ inewsource series “America’s Wall” about the real and human impact of the barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Email: comms@latinafutures.org


Matt Barreto

Matt Barreto

Barreto is an expert on the political behavior, voting patterns and potential electoral impact of Latino voters. He managed Latino polling for the 2016 Hillary Clinton presidential campaign and the 2020 and 2024 Biden campaigns, performed consulting work for high-profile political advocacy groups and currently serves as the faculty director of the UCLA Voting Rights Project.

Disclosures: Barreto is an advisor to Kamala Harris’ 2024 presidential campaign.

Email: barretom@ucla.edu


Chad Dunn

Chad Dunn

Dunn is a lecturer in law and an expert on voting rights, civil rights and redistricting. As the co-founder and legal director of the UCLA Voting Rights Project, Dunn has advanced legal scholarship, litigated and tried national and state election cases and co-authored multiple reports on expanding ballot access for Latino voters.

Disclosures: Dunn is an advisor to the Texas Democratic Party.

Email: chad@uclavrp.org


Veronica Terriquez

Veronica Terriquez

Terriquez, who directs the Chicano Studies Research Center, is an expert on the role of civic engagement in racially diverse communities, particularly on youth and leadership development in Latino communities, as well as policy advocacy and education. A professor of Chicana/o and Central American studies and urban planning, she has launched initiatives such as the California Freedom Summer Participatory Action Research Project and the Thriving Youth Survey, and co-founded the Latina Futures, 2050 Lab. 

Email: terriquez@luskin.ucla.edu


Gary Segura

Gary Segura

Segura is an expert on the political representation of Latinos and the politics of this growing minority population. Formerly the dean of the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, he has co-authored several books on political behavior and policy preferences and has directed nationwide polling research.

Disclosures: Segura is an advisor to the Harris campaign in 2024.

Email: segura@luskin.ucla.edu


Cecilia Menjivar

Cecilia Menjivar
Menjivar is the Dorothy L. Meier Professor of Social Equities and a professor of sociology. Her research centers on the effects of immigration law and enforcement practices on immigrants' lives as well as gender-based violence in Central America. Her expertise includes immigration law and policy, democracy and authoritarianism, legal statuses, family dynamics and community contexts that immigrants, mostly from Central America, encounter in the U.S. and elsewhere.

Email: menjivar@soc.ucla.edu


David Hayes-Bautista

David Hayes-Bautista

Hayes-Bautista is a distinguished professor at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and the director of the Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture. His research has resulted in landmark projects like the Latino GDP and the recently released inaugural Latina GDP. He works to improve public understanding of Latinos and their health, history, culture and contributions to California and the nation, and has written columns and opinion pieces for major news outlets, radio shows and television in Spanish and English.

Email: dhayesb@ucla.edu


Rodrigo Dominguez-Villegas

Rodrigo Dominguez-Villegas

Dominguez-Villegas is the director of research at the Latino Policy and Politics Institute and director of the Latino Data Hub at UCLA. He is available to discuss immigrants’ rights, migration policy and demographic and population studies. He has authored publications and policy reports on Latino representation and well-being and has testified as an immigration expert in national and international court cases.

Email: rodrigodv@luskin.ucla.edu


Amada Armenta

Amada Armenta

An associate professor of urban planning, Armenta is the faculty director of the Latino Policy and Politics Institute. She is an expert on the connections between the immigration enforcement system and the criminal justice system, and the implications of these connections for immigrants, bureaucracies and cities. She can also discuss the impact that fear of deportation and interactions with bureaucracies have on Latinos. She is the author of the award-winning book, “Protect Serve and Deport: The Rise of Policing as Immigration Enforcement.”

Email: armenta@ucla.edu


Ingrid Eagly

Ingrid Eagly

Eagly is the faculty co-director of the Criminal Justice Program at UCLA Law and has published on a range of topics, including U.S. immigration courts, detention, access to counsel and deportation consequences of criminal convictions. She is a co-editor for the ImmigrationProf blog, and formerly served as the faculty director of the David J. Epstein Program in Public Interest Law and Policy.

Email: eagly@law.ucla.edu