Immigration and public education are policy areas that may be irreversibly altered by the outcomes of state, local and national elections in 2024. ProPublica is launching two event series to clarify current debates around these issues and bring public attention to what’s at stake. Each event will draw on the newsroom’s reporting and include a panel of experts to answer participants’ questions.

The immigration series will explore President Joe Biden’s border record and America’s divisive attitudes over immigration while highlighting our examinations of the immigration system and the U.S. economy’s reliance on migrant labor.

The first event, “The Border and the Election” on May 29, will examine the consequential aftermath of the Trump and Biden administrations’ shifting policies, including around Title 42, an obscure, emergency federal code that allowed officials to turn migrants away. A new investigation from ProPublica and The Texas Tribune underscores how a deadly fire at a detention center in Mexico that claimed the lives of 40 men was a foreseeable outcome of landmark shifts in U.S. border policies that outsourced enforcement and deterrence responsibilities to Mexico.

The education series will delve into the mechanisms behind the shift of public funding to private schools and highlight how the culture war clashes and the outcomes of current local battles over school boards and districts could lead to deepening school inequality and racial disparities. Recent ProPublica reporting showed how voucher expansions in Ohio have unleashed a flood of additional taxpayer dollars to the benefit of families already enrolled in private schools. The first event in the series will be announced in the coming weeks.

Stay updated on ProPublica’s events and more. To learn more about sponsorship and underwriting opportunities, please contact [email protected].