← Feed

Posts

• View post

  Today at 10 am ET: my live conversation with Mazin Sidahmed on how Documented got started and what he plans to do with the city's ethnic and community media office. Watch on Substack at https://austinkocher.substack.com

• View post

  Starting now: my live conversation with Mazin Sidahmed of Documented. Join us on Substack at https://austinkocher.substack.com

• View post

  Documented’s Mazin Sidahmed On the Importance of Building Local News By and For Immigrants https://austinkocher.substack.com/p/documenteds-mazin-sidahmed-on-the

• View post

• View post

  Matthew Soerens of World Relief on who the Trump administration's refugee ban leaves out: Christians facing real persecution for their faith. Watch or listen to our full conversation: https://austinkocher.substack.com/p/president-trump-bans-christians-fleeing

• View post

  ICE counts family-unit removals by person, so a family of four adds four. By that count, more than 66,000 family members have been deported since January 20, 2025, on pace for about 185,000 by January 2029. https://austinkocher.substack.com/p/ice-has-deported-more-than-66000

• View post

  The full panel is set for The Truth Tellers in New York City. Pamela Yates and Paco de Onís preview their new film, then I join Cristina Jimenez of Shared Future in a conversation facilitated by Nara Milanich of Barnard College. Documented's Eileen Grench closes with a story her newsroom is documenting now. Organized by Documented. Tuesday, October 20, 6 to 7:30 p.m., Columbia SIPA, 420 W 118th St, Room 1512. Get tickets: https://givebutter.com/Documented-Truthtellers

• View post

  Refugees used to be the immigrants everyone agreed on. Matthew Soerens of World Relief and I talked about how the Trump administration came to ban persecuted Christians. The whole conversation is here: https://austinkocher.substack.com/p/president-trump-bans-christians-fleeing

• View post

  Since January 20, 2025, ICE has deported more than 66,000 people identified as members of a family unit, about one in ten removals. Family detention is back too, at Dilley and Karnes in Texas. https://austinkocher.substack.com/p/ice-has-deported-more-than-66000

• View post

  ICE made nearly 50,000 arrests in July, a monthly record in Deportation Data Project data, as the agency moved from large visible raids to quick arrests and local police partnerships. ICE had more than 2,500 287(g) agreements as of Sept. 15, and judges issued 53,808 in absentia removal orders in June after last-minute mass hearings began. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/sep/28/ice-us-immigration-new-tactics

• View post

  The Detention Mortality Map (detentionmortality.com) covers ICE custody deaths back to 2003. On The Project Censored Show, I explained why it leaves out cause of death and unverified criminal history claims. https://www.projectcensored.org/the-detention-mortality-map/

• View post

  ICE is deporting parents and leaving their children behind in the United States. A new Atlantic investigation follows a 2-year-old in Mobile, Alabama, whose parents were deported to Venezuela after a police officer handed his mother to ICE. She had a work permit and a pending asylum application. Brookings estimated in May that more than 22,000 U.S.-citizen children have had every parent in their household detained since January 2025. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/2026/11/trump-ice-famil...

• View post

  ICE has not paid outside medical bills since October 2025, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. On The Project Censored Show, I talked about a president who skips his bills setting the standard for ICE. https://www.projectcensored.org/the-detention-mortality-map/

• View post

  When Matthew Soerens of World Relief tells Christians the Trump administration has banned persecuted Christians, many don't believe him. We talked about why. Listen to the whole conversation: https://austinkocher.substack.com/p/president-trump-bans-christians-fleeing

• View post

  I talked with Matthew Soerens of World Relief about the first year the U.S. will likely resettle no Christians fleeing persecution. Listen to the whole conversation: https://austinkocher.substack.com/p/president-trump-bans-christians-fleeing

• View post

  This Week by the {Immigration} Numbers (October 3, 2026) https://austinkocher.substack.com/p/this-week-by-the-immigration-numbers-4d2

• View post

  Matthew Soerens of World Relief on immigration enforcement at churches, from our conversation about the Trump administration's ban on persecuted Christians. The full conversation: https://austinkocher.substack.com/p/president-trump-bans-christians-fleeing

• View post

  Matthew Soerens of World Relief on what the Black church has long understood about faith and injustice, from our conversation about the ban on persecuted Christians. Listen to the whole conversation: https://austinkocher.substack.com/p/president-trump-bans-christians-fleeing

• View post

  Clinton signed IIRIRA 30 years ago this week, five weeks before an election. We're a month out from one now. Did Democrats get it wrong in 1996, or is there a better way to ask the question? I want to hear yours. https://austinkocher.substack.com/p/this-week-by-the-immigration-numbers-4d2

• View post

  "They are going to kill somebody." ACLU Research Finds ICE Too Broken to Be Fixed, Calls for New Agency to Replace It. Listen to my conversation with Denise Bell and Naureen Shah: https://austinkocher.substack.com/p/they-are-going-to-kill-somebody-aclu

• View post

  Mexico is now a sending, transit and receiving country all at once. Organizations that used to help migrants heading north are shifting to resettlement after deportation. Field notes from Mexico City: https://austinkocher.substack.com/p/notes-from-mexico-city-the-view-from

• View post

  Out today! Thanks to Project Censored for having me back on The Project Censored Show to talk about the Detention Mortality Map, a new tool that tracks deaths in ICE custody. I also talked about medical neglect in ICE detention, the public paying for emergency care while private prison companies collect billions, and why the enforcement system reaches back well before ICE, to the INS. https://www.projectcensored.org/the-detention-mortality-map/

• View post

  Why do we have to use habeas corpus lawsuits for immigrant CHILDREN? Find out Friday at 1:00 PM during my convo with Acacia and partners. 🚨 only -> 8 <- seats left! Registration is free but required. https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_PurSNBjAQ7urELkIBSNwVw

• View post

  The $158 million no bid contract to provide lawyers for unaccompanied children went to Our Rescue, the group behind Sound of Freedom. It is unclear whether it employs any immigration attorneys. https://www.npr.org/2026/08/12/nx-s1-5929456/migrant-children-our-rescue

• View post

  The government is looking for a contractor to hold 3,000 unaccompanied children on a single campus, eight to a room, eight sharing one toilet, shower, and sink. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-migrant-children-detention-plans-b3035247.html

• View post

  Detained immigration court is the black box of the enforcement system. These are civil proceedings, but they happen inside an ICE facility where few people have access. I sat down with Professor Rebecca Galemba and the University of Denver team that documents one of those courtrooms in Aurora by hand, because no phones or laptops get past the door. We talked about access, method, and why so much of this system depends on not being seen. Watch or listen at austinkocher.substack.com.

• View post

  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. ✅️

• View post

  Everything in this post comes from detention data ICE was required to publish for years, a mandate Congress just quietly removed. Over 600,000 people booked in since January 2025, and the tools to count it may not last. https://austinkocher.substack.com/p/over-600000-people-booked-into-ice

• View post

  🚨 ‘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. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/03/trump-dhs-hunger-strikes-force-feeding-ice-detention

• View post

  The Atlantic profiles DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, whose halt on certain ICE stops stood for barely a day. It followed a week when ICE officers killed two people, a construction worker in Texas and a delivery driver in Maine, each time while looking for other men. Reporting by Nick Miroff for The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2026/07/markwayne-mullin-secretary-homeland-security-ice/687868/