Austin Kocher

Austin Kocher

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The Non-Detained Docket Is Key to Developing Effective Alternatives to Mass Immigrant Detention. Why Do We Know So Little About It?
The non-detained docket is massive, consequential, and completely unstudied. Join Claire Trickler-McNulty and myself as we try to map the terra…
 • Austin Kocher and Claire Trickler-McNulty
A Personal Note About the Impact and Future of This Newsletter
Just 3% of readers support this newsletter financially. Join the growing community of supporters behind the research that is having an impact on the…
 • Austin Kocher
Want to Understand Immigration Enforcement in 2026? Read These Five Reports
Expert research on immigration enforcement that the news cycle won't give you. Five reports, three takeaways each, and a case for reading deeply instead…
 • Austin Kocher
Dilley Family Detention Center Triples in Size Amid Growing Controversy Over Conditions
ICE's Dilley family detention center has nearly tripled since October to 1,332 people, including an estimated 800 children, amid protests, measles…
 • Austin Kocher
Investigating ICE's Mass Detention System: A Conversation with Doug MacMillan of The Washington Post
Few reporters have done more to expose what’s happening inside America’s sprawling immigrant detention system than Doug MacMillan.
 • Austin Kocher
The Best Source of ICE Detention Data Just Got Better: "Detention Reports" Now Includes Map, New Graph, & Facility Contracts
DetentionReports.com now features an interactive national map of all 237 ICE detention facilities, comparative scatter plots showing facility…
 • Austin Kocher and Adam Sawyer
DC Reporters Invited: Congressional Press Conference to Showcase New Data on Mixed-Status Couples
Reporters in Washington, D.C., I am inviting you to please join me at a press conference tomorrow (Thursday, Feb 5) on Capitol Hill (240 Cannon House…
 • Austin Kocher
ICE's Mass Detention Infrastructure Meets Resistance in Maryland
Mass deportation requires mass detention, but ICE's legitimacy problems are catching up with them. Maryland county just blocked a facility after the…
 • Austin Kocher
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"Instead of thinking about what (or where) a border is, ask: what does a border do?"
Listen to my wide-ranging interview with Eleanor Goldfield at Project Censored. I explain how we can use big ideas from political geography to make…
 • Austin Kocher
28:32
Toward a Positive Vision for Immigration Policy in 2026
I sat down with Andrea Flores, who spent 15 years on immigration policy inside government, to discuss why the old reform playbook isn't working and what…
 • Austin Kocher and Andrea R. Flores
59:38
We Don't Rescue Migrants—We Rescue Shipwreck Victims: What Spain's Maritime Rescue Operations Reveal About Border Politics
In this conversation with Luna Vives, we discuss her new book The Gates of the Sea: Migration and Rescue at the Edges of Europe (University of…
 • Austin Kocher
56:56
Food, Labor, and Migration: A Conversation on Our Interconnected Food System
Yesterday, I hosted Laura-Anne Minkoff-Zern and Teresa Mares for a conversation about their new book, Will Work for Food: Labor Across the Food Chain…
 • Austin Kocher
42:32
Live Discussion: US Citizens Separated from Spouses w/ Julie Moreno
On Substack Live yesterday, I spoke with Julie Moreno, a U.S. citizen from New Jersey who made the gut-wrenching decision to help her husband of nine…
 • Austin Kocher and Julie Moreno
1:01:14
The Legal, Medical, and Moral Failings of Family Detention: A Conversation with Javier Hidalgo & Faisal Al-Juburi from RAICES Texas
We are living through an era of exceptionally punitive immigration enforcement policies.
 • Austin Kocher
1:00:49
Listen to "The Forgotten Family Separation Crisis", my Discussion with Ashley DeAzevedo and Anna Lekas Miller About Mixed-Status Couples
Due to Congressional inaction and immigration laws that haven’t kept pace with reality, millions of US citizens live in families where at least one…
 • Austin Kocher and Anna Lekas Miller
25:13
Live: New Immigration Enforcement Dashboard Explained
Yesterday, we released the Immigration Enforcement Dashboard, a new tool designed to make immigration enforcement data more accessible to the public.
 • Austin Kocher
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