Austin Kocher, PhD

Live discussion tomorrow at 1PM EST with @nicolefoy.bsky.social Ruth Talbot & @austinkocher.com Sign up below 👇

A new poll of 5,000 voters finds 70 percent want legal pathways for immigrants. Wednesday at 1 pm ET I'm talking with Ernesto Castañeda of American University, who ran it. Register at us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi... @drernestocast.bsky.social

Tomorrow at 1 pm ET I'm talking with the ProPublica team behind a database of 506 U.S. citizens detained by immigration agents. Register at us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi... @propublica.org @cengizyar.com

A revised federal filing says DHS plans to keep one contractor at Camp East Montana into late 2028 without competing bids, lifting the contract to about $2.8 billion from $1.2 billion for the earlier period. @projectsaltbox.com www.projectsaltbox.com/p/ice-plans-...

The Week Ahead: Five Urgent Conversations about Immigration This week I’m talking with former DHS Sec Jeh Johnson, ProPublica, Ernesto Castañeda, and Documented. austinkocher.substack.com/p/the-week-a...

ICE is planning an intelligence program called ERO ONE that would bring in contractor analysts to look for threats across large datasets, according to procurement documents. @aclu.org calls it a domestic secret police agency in the making. www.aclu.org/news/privacy...

Huge tragedy! US citizen Tracy Gonzalez packed up to leave the country to join her husband in Mexico when the trailer w/ her possessions burst into flames on I-95. I known Tracy personally, such a powerful voice. Help if you can. Congress needs to act! www.gofundme.com/f/help-a-dea...

Tomorrow at noon: what role should local police play when federal immigration operations come to a city? I'm joining former DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson, Eileen Grench of Documented and moderator Dara Lind. Register: is.gd/8JnyRR @documentedny.bsky.social @immcouncil.org

This is probably one of the most important data sets that we have when it comes to understanding accountability for Immigration agencies. You will not want to miss this conversation. It literally could shape years of litigation and legislation. 

We are living through a period of global revanchism. Whatever you think worked a decade ago is not necessarily what works now. Political analysis must evolve, not remain stagnant.

A wedding photographer is challenging the sheriff of 20 years who pushed Wicomico County, Maryland toward a 287(g) ICE deal before the state banned them. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Looking forward to this -- please join us!

Immigration Agents Have Detained Hundreds of U.S. Citizens. Meet the ProPublica Team with the Data to Prove It I'm talking with the team on Tuesday, October 27 at 1 pm ET. austinkocher.substack.com/p/immigratio... @nicolefoy.bsky.social

from @austinkocher.com #migente #VoteEarly #GA #JusticeforLuisSandoval "To refer to people as bodies is to treat their lives as matters of material inputs and outputs, objects of logistical management like Amazon packages, rather than persons who enjoy certain minimum standards of ethical care.”

Mixed-status parents in Chicago and Charlotte are largely staying home months after ICE operations, an Urban Institute study finds. Mothers say they worked less. www.kjzz.org/the-show/202...

Ya just gotta vote. 💯

60 Minutes airs a report on third-country deportations Sunday at 7 pm ET. It features Moussa Diawara, who says Ghanaian officials forced him onto a flight to Mali within five days of being deported from the U.S. www.cbsnews.com/video/new-60...

Groups want records on ICE's response to Georgia's Folkston hunger strike, now over two weeks old, including any solitary confinement or forced feeding. amicacenter.org/press-releas...

Our government explicitly treats "detainees" in our camps as expendable...as if they don't care if they are alive or dead...We are treating human beings as SOYLENT GREEN @austinkocher.com This is brutal, but worth your time austinkocher.substack.com/p/ice-will-d...

Ilhan Omar is leaving her D.C. home after a federal search. Agents spent four to five hours inside and took 17 items, including a Somali children's book and a vintage camera gifted to her husband. www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...

If this report is accurate, White House lawyers are discussing pardons in advance for junior staff who worked on deportation, war, or trade policy. That would tell staff the government expects some of what it asks them to do could be unlawful. Courts and Congress could still examine what happened.

Trump’s DOJ is indicting and arresting his political enemies. His DHS raided the home of a sitting Congresswoman. His armed ICE thugs are going door to door harassing people under the pretext of finding non-citizen voting. If you saw this happening in another country, what would you call it?

MACKLEMORE CALLS OUT ICE AND DEFENDS PALESTINE DURING COLORADO CONCERT Macklemore returned to the stage Thursday night, October 22, at a sold-out Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado

It seems impossible for our political system to hold the politicians tied to the actual invasion of our Capitol to account, but any random Muslim candidate is reflexively labeled a terrorist.

There is no end to this genre of headline. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Wednesday to let it resume border wall and road construction in West Texas' Big Bend region, where a lower court injunction temporarily blocks the work. www.cbsnews.com/news/justice...

I agree that one of the things we should be asking ourselves is how to make sure that this moment isn’t fleeting, I just think it is not the only thing nor is there only one way to achieve it. Understanding, structural opportunities and barriers seems important for that discussion. 

I understand the skepticism but what we should be asking ourselves right now is how to make sure this moment isn’t fleeting and do the work to make some of the shifts in thinking last. The dems and technocrats are so deeply committed to the status quo, it’s our job to counter that.

This is literally the end of the rule of law. If a President can pardon people committing crimes on his behalf - and the Supreme Court says he himself can't be prosecuted for crimes committed as part of his job - then the government becomes a lawless entity able to violate our rights without limit.

The Republican Party has become the party of National Socialism. It takes some familiarity with 20th Century history to understand why the phrase "national socialism" is appropriate here but it absolutely is. Surely someone has written on this - or someone should.

The full Fifth Circuit ruled Friday that three detained men have no constitutional right to a bond hearing. Seven judges dissented, and only one other circuit has upheld mandatory detention. news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...

Reece Jones says Smuggler shows that people can change their minds, and that hearing each other's stories face to face can help us see the humanity in each other. If you missed it live, the whole conversation is at austinkocher.substack.com/p/bob-is-as-...

The FBI is investigating an incendiary device reportedly thrown at Atlanta's ICE building Tuesday night. No reports of injuries or significant damage, the FBI said. abcnews.com/US/wireStory...

Greg Boos on Smuggler. It's a wild rollercoaster of a book, and you won't guess where it's going next. When you get to the end, he says, think accountability. The recording of our conversation with Reece and Greg is at austinkocher.substack.com/p/bob-is-as-...

Detainees at ICE's Folkston detention center in Georgia say a Mexican national has taken his own life. Detainees heard the man screaming in pain while being held in solitary confinement. Then, the screams stopped. He is the 60th person to die in ICE custody under Trump. More to come...

I've been able to confirm from more than one source that there has been another ICE detention death this week, this time in Georgia. More coming tomorrow, I know very little right now. If you have more information, DMs are open.

A top Justice Department official asked two Minnesota federal judges to step aside from immigration cases over comments they made to the New York Times about the administration's crackdown there. www.cbsnews.com/news/justice...

Bob lost at the Supreme Court, Reece Jones says, but he also brought this issue to a head. Reece hopes that means we can get some protections in place against the excesses of the federal government. Our whole conversation is at austinkocher.substack.com/p/bob-is-as-...

About 980,000 deportations took place in the first 18 months of Trump's second term, per the Migration Policy Institute. Interior arrests led to 39 percent of July's deportations, up from 28 percent in 2025. www.migrationpolicy.org/press-releas...