Austin Kocher, PhD
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austinkocher.com
Austin Kocher, PhD
@austinkocher.com
8.2K followers 2K following 2K posts
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
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austinkocher.com
ICE just reported its fourth in-custody death of 2026. It’s only January 10.
January 11, 2026 at 12:39 AM
Reposted by Austin Kocher, PhD
moveon.org
The Trump administration’s violent immigration policies are deeply unpopular, pass it on.
austinkocher.com Austin Kocher, PhD @austinkocher.com · 19h
Got a shout out from Chris Hayes yesterday. Data can drive public narrative.

www.facebook.com/share/v/19MZ...
January 10, 2026 at 5:00 PM
austinkocher.com
Got a shout out from Chris Hayes yesterday. Data can drive public narrative.

www.facebook.com/share/v/19MZ...
January 10, 2026 at 4:36 PM
austinkocher.com
In a deadly start to the year, ICE announced the agency’s THIRD detention death of 2026 late Friday night. People are dying in detention at a rate of one every three days right now.

open.substack.com/pub/detentio...
3 Deaths in ICE Custody in the 1st Week of 2026
ICE dumps another unlawfully detained in-custody death notification on Friday evening
open.substack.com
January 10, 2026 at 1:15 PM
austinkocher.com
The Trump admin is making civilians and ICE officers less safe. When the public doesn’t trust that our leaders are committed to an independent investigation and real accountability, it gives a blank check to dangerous use of force by officers and fuels vigilante retaliation.
January 10, 2026 at 1:48 AM
austinkocher.com
"The Cost of Being Undocumented" is 💯: Alix shares unforgettable scenes from undocumented life while Antero helps frame the inhumane math of a system that extracts labor and taxes while denying basic protections.

penguinrandomhouse.com/books/780981/the-cost-of-being-undocumented-by-alix-dick/
January 10, 2026 at 1:25 AM
austinkocher.com
It’s the 9th day of 2026 and ICE has already had its second detention death.

open.substack.com/pub/detentio...
Camp Death #2 Buried in the Friday News Dump
Previously Undeportable Cuban died in solitary confinement at Camp East Montana
open.substack.com
January 9, 2026 at 10:28 PM
Reposted by Austin Kocher, PhD
simulatedchollas.bsky.social
For example, the Trump administration's effort to evict mixed status families from public housing will affect roughly 25,000 households. Setting aside the fact that those families may then be made homeless, that number is only one-tenth the amount of housing that the U.S. has lost due to the defunding and demolishing of public housing since 1990. Deportations reduce the housing construction workforce, lowering the number of units built and increasing costs. And tariffs raise prices on building materials such as lumber, steel and aluminum. The National Association of Home Builders estimates that recent tariffs have raised building costs by US$10,900 per home. In early 2025, the Department of Government Efficiency canceled or delayed a series of HUD grants for housing assistance programs. And the Trump administration has announced plans for more cuts to the nation's already insufficient housing assistance budget.
January 9, 2026 at 7:06 PM
austinkocher.com
JD Vance keeps blaming immigrants for the housing crisis, but Prof. @rahimk.bsky.social argues that the Trumps anti-immigrant housing policy reflects a long history of xenophobia in public housing. Great research-driven essay at @us.theconversation.com

theconversation.com/the-trump-ad...
The Trump administration’s anti-immigrant housing policy reflects a long history of xenophobia in public housing
Anti-immigrant housing policies have been cast as a way for citizens to access more housing, but they fail to prevent the shortages driving the crises.
theconversation.com
January 9, 2026 at 6:32 PM
austinkocher.com
Houston immigration attorneys said Venezuelans with valid asylum claims could see
their cases dismissed amid assertions the South American country has been liberated
following the ouster of former president Nicolás Maduro.

www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston...
What Venezuelan asylum seekers in Houston should know after Maduro's ouster
Houston immigration attorneys said Venezuelans with valid asylum claims could see their cases dismissed amid assertions the South American country has been liberated.
www.houstonchronicle.com
January 9, 2026 at 4:08 PM
austinkocher.com
Trump administration abdicates moral, legal responsibility after Minneapolis ICE killing (Guest Opinion by Austin Kocher)

www.syracuse.com/opinion/2026...
Trump administration abdicates moral, legal responsibility after Minneapolis ICE killing (Guest Opinion by Austin Kocher)
Officials branded Renee Nicole Good a professional agitator and domestic terrorist without evidence. Americans deserved a more measured, mature response, writes SU professor.
www.syracuse.com
January 9, 2026 at 3:37 PM
Reposted by Austin Kocher, PhD
socialmedialab.ca
"92% of ICE Detention Growth in FY 2026 Driven by Immigrants with No Criminal Convictions" austinkocher.substack.com/p/92-of-ice-...
92% of ICE Detention Growth in FY 2026 Driven by Immigrants with No Criminal Convictions
ICE published new detention data today that brings the current population to a record-high of 68,990. Get the full breakdown below. Plus: ICE records first detention death of 2026.
austinkocher.substack.com
January 9, 2026 at 3:17 AM
austinkocher.com
It's about time a Democrat nailed the messaging.

"I’m the Mayor of Minneapolis. Trump Is Lying to You." By Jacob Frey.

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/08/o...
Opinion | I’m the Mayor of Minneapolis. Trump Is Lying to You.
www.nytimes.com
January 9, 2026 at 2:59 PM
austinkocher.com
Most people don't know that even if you win your asylum case, ICE can still keep you in detention. For example, a Madison couple that fled Venezuela recently won asylum, but the husband is still detained while ICE appeals.

isthmus.com/news/news/ma...
Madison couple who fled Venezuela win asylum, but ICE detention continues — for now
An immigration court judge granted asylum to Dailin Pacheco-Acosta and Diego Ugarte-Arenas. But they remain jailed — hundreds of miles apart — as Trump administration officials defend a policy…
isthmus.com
January 9, 2026 at 1:02 PM
austinkocher.com
Congress requires ICE to publish a report within 90 days when someone dies in custody. That deadline has passed in the case of Huabing Xie, who died in Imperial Regional Detention Facility in Calexico on Sept 29. “It is quite disturbing,” said Jesse Franzblau from NIJC.

www.kpbs.org/news/border-...
ICE misses deadline to release report on in-custody death in Imperial County
The federal agency’s failure to meet the deadline came in the final days of a deadly year for immigrants in federal detention.
www.kpbs.org
January 9, 2026 at 7:18 AM
Reposted by Austin Kocher, PhD
elliottyoung.bsky.social
They are filling immigrant prisons with non criminals.
reichlinmelnick.bsky.social Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 2d
NEW: Data released by ICE shows that virtually the entire growth of detention in the last few months has been among people with no criminal record at all - no prior convictions (no matter how minor) and no pending criminal charges.
January 9, 2026 at 1:44 AM
Reposted by Austin Kocher, PhD
reichlinmelnick.bsky.social
NEW: Data released by ICE shows that virtually the entire growth of detention in the last few months has been among people with no criminal record at all - no prior convictions (no matter how minor) and no pending criminal charges.
Chart showing "Detention Population, Among Those Arrested in the interior, by Criminal Record, May 2019 through January 27, 2026. There are three lines on the graph: prior conviction, pending criminal charges, and no criminal record. from 2019 through January 2025, "prior conviction" is by far the highest, followed by pending charges much lower down and "no criminal record" the lowest. During the Biden admin, very few people arrested by ICE in the interior and detained had no criminal record. Beginning in January 2025, all three lines jump, but the highest spike is among those with no criminal records. By September, that has become the single largest. Since that point, there are now thousands more people in detention with no criminal record than people with prior convictions.
January 9, 2026 at 12:55 AM
austinkocher.com
As the U.S. expands detention and ends TPS, attorneys warn Venezuelan asylum seekers could lose protection not because conditions improved, but because the narrative changed.

www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston...
What Venezuelan asylum seekers in Houston should know after Maduro's ouster
Houston immigration attorneys said Venezuelans with valid asylum claims could see their cases dismissed amid assertions the South American country has been liberated.
www.houstonchronicle.com
January 9, 2026 at 1:25 AM
austinkocher.com
92% of ICE Detention Growth in FY 2026 Driven by Immigrants with No Criminal Convictions

ICE published new detention data today that brings the current population to a record-high of 68,990. ICE records first detention death of 2026.

austinkocher.substack.com/p/92-of-ice-...
92% of ICE Detention Growth in FY 2026 Driven by Immigrants with No Criminal Convictions
ICE published new detention data today that brings the current population to a record-high of 68,990. Get the full breakdown below. Plus: ICE records first detention death of 2026.
austinkocher.substack.com
January 8, 2026 at 11:15 PM
austinkocher.com
New from Matthew Soerens at the Evangelical Immigration Table: deportation policy is reshaping American churches. A new report finds roughly 4 in 5 of those vulnerable to deportation are Christians. He documents what that looks like for one family.
January 8, 2026 at 6:32 PM
Reposted by Austin Kocher, PhD
matthewblanton.bsky.social
I'm grateful to @austinkocher.com for articulating this position so well.
January 8, 2026 at 5:40 PM
Reposted by Austin Kocher, PhD
norademleitner.bsky.social
We need more thoughtful voices like @austinkocher.com

This 👇is a worthwhile read. It
highlights the need for a serious investigation & leadership that acknowledges the trauma a loss of life inflicts, especially when captured & shared widely on video.
January 8, 2026 at 5:21 PM
Reposted by Austin Kocher, PhD
laurieprim.bsky.social
Excellent piece from ICE expert Austin Kocher.
January 8, 2026 at 4:33 PM
Reposted by Austin Kocher, PhD
tomwillard.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/austinko...

One of the most important and nuanced posts about what happened to Renee Good from @austinkocher.com .

And it covers some that will be required of us if the partisan bickering ever ends: the need to massively re-engineer our expectations of leadership. More TK
The Trump Administration's Abdication of Moral Responsibility in Responding to the Killing of Renee Nicole Good
Prior to an investigation into ICE's use of lethal force in Minneapolis, the Trump admin branded a dead U.S. citizen as a "violent rioter," "professional agitator", and terrorist. It has to stop.
open.substack.com
January 8, 2026 at 4:40 PM
austinkocher.com
The Trump Administration's Abdication of Moral Responsibility in Responding to the Killing of Renee Nicole Good

austinkocher.substack.com/p/the-trump-...
The Trump Administration's Abdication of Moral Responsibility in Responding to the Killing of Renee Nicole Good
Prior to an investigation into ICE's use of lethal force in Minneapolis, the Trump admin branded a dead U.S. citizen as a "violent rioter," "professional agitator", and terrorist. It has to stop.
austinkocher.substack.com
January 8, 2026 at 4:27 PM