Austin Kocher, PhD
@austinkocher.com
I study immigration enforcement. Assistant Professor at Syracuse University and Research Fellow at the Center for Latin American and Latino Studies at American University. https://linktr.ee/austinkocher
🚨BREAKING: Colorado Federal Court DISMISSES Department of Justice lawsuit to provide access to complete statewide voter registration database. Another victory for Elias Law Group and our clients. DOJ is now 0-20 in these cases. ELG is undefeated. www.democracydocket.com/cases/colora...
🚨 United States of America v. Griswold
Learn more.
democracydocket.com
It’s a tremendous honor anytime anyone wants to hear what you have to say. But if you extend an invitation to someone to speak at your event that involves travel and expenses, please state up front whether you’re offering to absorb those costs. It’s only fair.
“He is the second man to die after being held at Delaney Hall. Jean Wilson Brutus, a 41-year-old man from Haiti, died on December 12, 2025, the same day ICE detained him, and ICE attributed that death to natural causes.”
Austin Kocher, PhD@austinkocher.com · 2d agoEdwin Lopez-Cornejo died at Delaney Hall in Newark, six weeks into ICE custody. He is the 23rd person to die in ICE detention this year and the second at Delaney Hall since it reopened under Trump. austinkocher.substack.com/p/edwin-lope...
"23 deaths in 212 days - average of one death every 9.2 days"
Austin Kocher, PhD@austinkocher.com · 2d agoEdwin Lopez-Cornejo died at Delaney Hall in Newark, six weeks into ICE custody. He is the 23rd person to die in ICE detention this year and the second at Delaney Hall since it reopened under Trump. austinkocher.substack.com/p/edwin-lope...
Edwin Lopez-Cornejo died at Delaney Hall in Newark, six weeks into ICE custody. He is the 23rd person to die in ICE detention this year and the second at Delaney Hall since it reopened under Trump. austinkocher.substack.com/p/edwin-lope...
Edwin Lopez-Cornejo Is the 23rd Person to Die in ICE Custody in 2026
Edwin Lopez-Cornejo died at Delaney Hall in Newark, six weeks into ICE custody. He is the 23rd person to die in ICE detention this year and the second at Delaney Hall since it reopened under Trump.
austinkocher.substack.com
🚨 ‘Stark example of brutality’: Trump’s ICE used court orders in plan to force-feed at least 10 hunger strikers in detention through force-feeding, intravenous forced hydration and involuntary blood draws. Reporting by José Olivares at The Guardian. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
‘Stark example of brutality’: Trump’s ICE used court orders in plan to force-feed at least 10 hunger strikers in detention
Exclusive: court records reviewed by the Guardian show that procedures included force-feeding, intravenous forced hydration and involuntary blood draws
theguardian.com
3️⃣ Back in March, I wrote about the impact of local journalism in Oklahoma as a response to @austinkocher.com and I covering the first (brief) enrollment in the 287(g) program by a K-12 school resource PD. maxwellcommons.substack.com/p/the-un-can...
The Un-Caney Valley
School cops, ICE, and adults who make decisions.
maxwellcommons.substack.com
Increasingly, patients are showing up to hospitals in ICE or CBP custody. NILC staff and Dr. Theresa Cheng spoke with @austinkocher.com about how medical professionals can care for their patients — and protect their rights — when this happens.
Austin Kocher, PhD@austinkocher.com · 2w agoA patient in ICE custody is brought to the hospital with a guard in the room during care. The National Immigration Law Center wrote a guide on what doctors can do in that moment. I sat down with three of its authors. 🧵 austinkocher.substack.com/p/hospitals-...
Special appreciation to @austinkocher.com, as well, for his exceptional reporting on ICE detention, immigration courts, and the brutal mechanics of the administration’s mass deportation agenda. 8/9 austinkocher.substack.com/p/ice-has-de...
ICE Has Deported More Than 66,000 Family Members Under Trump Administration, Family Detention Is Back at Dilley and Karnes
New ICE data show more than 66,000 family-unit deportations since January 20, 2025, about one in ten removals, with an August spike above 20 percent, as family detention reopens at Dilley and Karnes.
austinkocher.substack.com
From the administration that brought you “WE NEED TO DEPORT IMMIGRANTS TO PROTECT AMERICANS” I bring you “US WORKERS SHOULD BE FORCED TO WORK UNTIL THEY ARE LITERALLY DEAD.”
Robert Reich@rbreich.bsky.social · 4d agoAppalling cruelty — and all to fund more tax cuts for the rich.
After a reduction in overall population at the Adams County ICE facility, new reporting by Mukta Joshi at Mississippi Today find that ICE is packing immigrants in, three to a room. (For the umpteenth time, this is civil detention.) mississippitoday.org/2026/07/31/i...
ICE detainees in Mississippi complain of crowding - Mississippi Today
An ICE detention facility in Mississippi recently began placing three people in cells designed for two.
mississippitoday.org
If the President was so worried about vandalism in DC, he wouldn’t have pardoned the large single group of vandals the city has seen since 1812.
Austin Kocher, PhD@austinkocher.com · 4d agoThere it is.
One of the most powerful explanatory observations I ever heard about US politics is the idea that the Civil War never ended. The South in particular, and conservatives in general, never stopped raging over the idea that that they would have to live in a society where Black Americans could be equals.
I really don’t have better words for it, I’m just so tired of how much bullshit this administration spews which is readily and immediately debunked, and yet Trump’s cult following just doesn’t care. MAGA is a diagnosis that belongs in the DSM-5, not in our politics.
Hi, folks, Austin here. If you're trying to find the most accurate and current population of a given detention facility, whatever you do, do not simply grab that number from the TRAC detention page (that I built) or the ICE spreadsheet. The most accurate number is here: detentionreports.com. Why?...
ICE Detention Facilities - Directory
This directory provides transparency and information about ICE detention facilities across the United States.
detentionreports.com
Just a reminder that we have never—not once, zero times—seen any data to support an “8,000%” increase assaults and threats to ICE officers. We have more evidence of Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster than we do this claim.
This Week by the {Immigration} Numbers (July 31, 2026) ICYMI, the last numbers on: arrests at a record pace, asylum cases rerouted to judges, unaccompanied kids losing lawyers, more denaturalizations, enforcement deaths, and courts drawing new limits. austinkocher.substack.com/p/this-week-...
This Week by the {Immigration} Numbers (July 31, 2026)
ICYMI, the last numbers on: arrests at a record pace, asylum cases rerouted to judges, unaccompanied kids losing lawyers, more denaturalizations, enforcement deaths, and courts drawing new limits.
austinkocher.substack.com
Friends, please get this important info out to your followers. #Migente #BreakfastCrew #BlueCrew #Immigration #Court #KidsOfImmigrants #GreenCard #TempStatus #WorkerVisas #Dreamers #DACA 🆘🚨Notices via mail 👀📲 🚨 Immigration Court Info from @austinkocher.com open.substack.com/pub/austinko...
Mega-Masters Explained: How Trump's Immigration Courts are Manufacturing Deportations
The Trump administration rolled out a new tactic to generate removal orders: piling well over 100 court cases on short notice into impossibly crowded single hearings.
open.substack.com
I so so agree. I spent 2 master calendar days at ICE/GEO in Aurora and being there ... well, it just matters.
Austin Kocher, PhD@austinkocher.com · 6d agoIf you live near an immigration court, go sit in for a day. As Jenni Gutierrez Marquez said, bearing witness will teach you a lot even if you don't follow all the legal jargon. My conversation with the DU Courtwatch team is at austinkocher.substack.com
If you live near an immigration court, go sit in for a day. As Jenni Gutierrez Marquez said, bearing witness will teach you a lot even if you don't follow all the legal jargon. My conversation with the DU Courtwatch team is at austinkocher.substack.com
https://austinkocher.substack.com
austinkocher.substack.com
Ella Iveslätt put the reason for the DU Court Transparency Project in one line. "The immigration court system as we know it today only exists because of a complete lack of transparency." Watch or listen to my full conversation at austinkocher.substack.com
https://austinkocher.substack.com
austinkocher.substack.com
Mega-Masters Explained: How Trump's Immigration Courts are Manufacturing Deportations austinkocher.substack.com/p/mega-maste...
Mega-Masters Explained: How Trump's Immigration Courts are Manufacturing Deportations
The Trump administration rolled out a new tactic to generate removal orders: piling well over 100 court cases on short notice into impossibly crowded single hearings.
austinkocher.substack.com
Detained immigration court is the black box of the whole system. Hearings are civil proceedings, but they take place inside an ICE facility where few people have access. I sat down with the University of Denver team that documents one of those courtrooms in Aurora.
I don't know who needs to hear this, but if you're not backing up your computer, you're at risk of losing a lot of data. Remember: a cloud sync is not necessarily a backup (data loss will propagate across devices). ❌ Use an external HD or a real cloud backup service. ✅️
ICYMI: at the current pace, ICE will have booked over 800,000 people into detention by year's end and close to 1.75 million by the end of the term. Most people released from detention are now deported. See the graphs. austinkocher.substack.com/p/over-60000...
https://austinkocher.substack.com/p/over-600000-people-booked-into-ice
austinkocher.substack.com
Over 600,000 people have been booked into ICE detention since Trump took office in January 2025. That is the cumulative total who have passed through the gates, far more than the roughly 65,000 held on a single day. I pulled it from ICE's own biweekly data.
