Yesterday evening, I hosted a Substack Live session to walk through two critical immigration data updates that came out over the weekend. I know Sunday evening isn't my usual time slot, but these numbers demanded immediate attention—and I wanted to make sure readers had access to the most current information as we track the trajectory of our immigration enforcement system.
For the first time, I decided to include a video alongside the audio recording. I wasn't planning on it originally, but let me know what you think about the format.
What We Covered
Historic Detention Levels: ICE's latest data shows over 61,000 people currently held in immigration detention facilities—the highest number in U.S. history. This surpasses even the previous Trump administration's peak of around 56,000. What makes this particularly striking is that roughly 30,000 of these individuals have no criminal history whatsoever—a number that alone exceeds many past total detention populations.
Expanding Electronic Monitoring: Beyond physical detention, we're seeing significant growth in GPS ankle monitors. The Trump administration is scaling down the SmartLink smartphone app program (which Republicans consistently misrepresented during the Biden years) while dramatically expanding the more stigmatizing and cumbersome ankle monitor system.
Tracking ICE Arrests: Using data from the Deportation Reports Project, I can now confirm that we can reliably estimate monthly ICE arrests from total ICE book-ins. With that in mind, ICE arrests peaked at around 31,600 in June before dropping slightly to a projected 28,000-29,000 in August. For context, the number of arrests was under 8,000 per month last October.
The Detention Reports Project Update: Adam Sawyer updated detentionreports.com with current facility-level data. Rather than just summarizing the findings, we created something different this time—a community learning exercise that invites readers to explore detention data in their own areas and engage in deeper analysis.
A Different Kind of Civic Engagement
Adam and I put together what we're calling a "lesson plan" (though that might be too formal a term) designed to foster genuine curiosity and critical thinking about immigration detention. As researchers and teachers first, our primary commitment is to public understanding and data accuracy rather than advocacy.
The exercise encourages people to examine detention facilities near them, research local news coverage, and engage with the complexity of these issues in their communities. We hope this might spark conversations—even among people who don't typically agree on immigration—grounded in actual data rather than rhetoric.
I realize it's challenging to maintain curiosity when so much feels dire, especially for immigrants facing these policies directly. But I believe there's something sustainable and necessary about incorporating genuine learning alongside our attention to these issues. Exhausting our mental energy on outrage alone doesn't always help us think critically about solutions.
Labor Day Reflections
Today being Labor Day, I want to acknowledge the workers whose organizing gave us weekends in the first place, and emphasize that these rights remain under attack. Coming from a working-class rural background in Ohio, I grew up understanding that we have more in common as working people than the forces that divide us.
The same values that drive my immigration work, such as dignity, fairness, and the power of people working together across lines of difference, also apply to labor rights. Whether we're talking about immigrant detention or worker protections, these are fundamentally about how we treat human beings and whether we believe everyone deserves basic dignity and safety.
Join me in celebrating over 300 Substack posts and over 10,000 readers! This newsletter is only possible because of your support. If you believe in keeping this work free and open to the public, join the 100% of surveyed paid subscribers who said this newsletter is a good steward of their investment. You can read more about the mission and focus of this newsletter and learn why, after three years, I finally decided to offer a paid option.
