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• Post #4389379

  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.

• Post #4386633

  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. ✅️

• Post #4380283

  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

• Post #4366007

  🚨 ‘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

• Post #4358994

  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/

• Post #4300974

  ICE wants to stop renting detention space and build it, under a solicitation worth up to $10 billion. It starts with eight Secure Housing Units totaling 208 cells, about $247 million. Two of the named centers closed years ago, and one on St. Thomas never existed. The ceiling lists 14 more sites, from Honolulu to Guantanamo Bay. Reporting by Em Knepp at Project Salt Box. https://www.projectsaltbox.com/p/inside-ices-plan-to-stop-renting

• Post #4299733

  Senior-living facilities, already short-staffed, are being forced to terminate immigrant caregivers as more Americans live longer and need care. Immigrant workers are a large share of the direct-care workforce, and their loss destabilizes care for elderly residents. We depend on the workers the enforcement system renders vulnerable. Reporting by The New York Times (Miriam Jordan). https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/20/us/immigration-trump-senior-living-staffing.html

• Post #4290377

  The foreign farmworkers exploited in Georgia largely came here legally, on H-2A guestworker visas, and were abused by labor contractors despite the federal protections meant to shield them. H-2A sets minimum wages and requires farmers to cover housing and transport. ProPublica spent nearly two years on this. Reporting by Max Blau. https://www.propublica.org/article/h-2a-farmworker-protections-profits-trump

• Post #4284365

  A DHS memo that paused ICE traffic stops did not survive the day. It was reversed within hours, after President Trump posted on Truth Social urging the stops to continue. ICE has been relying more on vehicle stops, which former officials describe as dangerous, and the brief pause came after fatal ICE shootings during such stops. Reporting by Documented (Julia Malleck), on reporting first published by The Guardian. https://documentedny.com/2026/07/17/ice-traffic-stops-white-house/

• Post #4259314

  Two new federal rules take aim at legal immigration, one overhauling the student visa system and one rewriting the public-charge test. David Bier at the Cato Institute finds the public-charge change would mostly hit relatives of U.S. citizens, above all spouses and minor children. Neither rule affects anyone who crossed illegally. Both target people who did everything by the book. https://www.cato.org/blog/trumps-new-anti-legal-immigration-rules-target-students-spouses-us-citizens

• Post #4222959

  Immigration judges are Justice Department employees, inside the executive branch, which leaves them exposed to pressure from the administration prosecuting the cases they hear. After the June 29 ruling in Trump v. Slaughter, the administration removed the three remaining members of the bipartisan Election Assistance Commission within 10 days. The same logic could reach immigration judges. Analysis by Just Security. https://www.justsecurity.org/147642/trump-deportation-immigration-judges/

• Post #4222958

  ICE Has Deported More Than 66,000 Family Members Under Trump Administration, Family Detention Is Back at Dilley and Karnes https://austinkocher.substack.com/p/ice-has-deported-more-than-66000

• Post #4206220

  The Supreme Court's June 25 decision let the administration end Temporary Protected Status for roughly 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians, and the work permits for that group expired July 24. The legal question is settled for now, but the effects on work authorization, family stability, and community life are still spreading outward. Analysis by SCOTUSblog. https://www.scotusblog.com/2026/07/the-ripple-effects-of-the-tps-ruling/

• Post #4174723

  Over 600,000 People Booked Into ICE Detention Centers Since Start of Trump II Administration 65,000 people are currently in ICE detention, but the full impact is much larger and most detained people are deported. 1.75M people could be detained by the end of the second Trump administration. https://austinkocher.substack.com/p/over-600000-people-booked-into-ice

• Post #4172812

  A witness to the fatal ICE shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston was facing deportation. A federal judge in Texas has now temporarily stopped it. Whether anyone is held to account for the shooting could depend on whether the people who saw it are still here to describe it. Reporting by CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/houston-ice-shooting-judge-blocks-deportation-witness/

• Post #4167699

  For the first time in 30 years, the Alien Terrorist Removal Court is being used. Congress created it in 1996 to let a deportation proceed while the government keeps its evidence classified, much like the FISA courts. A judge sees the evidence. The person facing removal may not. Steve Vladeck examines the first case. Analysis by Just Security. https://www.justsecurity.org/148285/the-alien-terrorist-removal-courts-first-case/

• Post #4151777

  DHS plans to pay Thomson Reuters, the company behind the Reuters news agency, $125 million for data on millions of people, including Social Security numbers, ethnicity, social media posts, and geolocation. Procurement records reviewed by 404 Media say the deal would let ICE monitor people continuously, justified as a hunt for voter fraud and immigration fraud. https://www.404media.co/ice-to-pay-thomson-reuters-125-million-to-find-voter-fraud/

• Post #4150047

  Opening a new credit card or filing a change of address can send that address through data-broker companies to ICE, which can search it without a warrant. 404 Media traced the supply using government procurement records. Sen. Ron Wyden says Americans have no way to opt out. Reporting by Joseph Cox at 404 Media. https://www.404media.co/you-opened-a-credit-card-ice-now-knows-where-you-live/

• Post #4141285

  When someone in ICE custody needs care, a hospital becomes the one place enforcement and medicine meet. The National Immigration Law Center wrote a guide for that moment, and I sat down with three of its authors: Jennifer Ibañez Whitlock, Matthew Lopas, and Dr. Theresa Cheng. Their point is that medical standards govern the encounter rather than immigration authority. Watch or listen, and read the report. https://austinkocher.substack.com/p/hospitals-should-never-become-places

• Post #4125596

  The ACLU calls ICE’s well-documented abuses a blueprint for authoritarian rule, and lays out a vision to replace ICE with an agency that manages immigration responsibly and humanely. Watch or listen: https://austinkocher.substack.com/p/they-are-going-to-kill-somebody-aclu

• Post #4092498

  *Detention Reports* Updated With Latest Data and Details about ICE Facilities Nationwide Relevant Research's DetentionReports.com project now updated with facility data through July, information on each facility's owner and operator, and 164 contracts across 78 facilities. https://austinkocher.substack.com/p/detention-reports-updated-with-latest

• Post #4076039

  You should not fear that renewing a driver's license ends in detention. Naureen Shah on the affirmative vision behind the ACLU's call to replace ICE. My conversation with her and Denise Bell. Watch or listen: https://austinkocher.substack.com/p/they-are-going-to-kill-somebody-aclu

• Post #4071766

  The ACLU did not go looking for a pattern. Denise Bell reviewed more than 1,200 enforcement incidents from public records and it emerged on its own. My conversation with her and Naureen Shah on building the record. Watch or listen: https://austinkocher.substack.com/p/they-are-going-to-kill-somebody-aclu

• Post #4065432

  For the first time, the ACLU is calling to replace ICE. My conversation with the report's authors, Naureen Shah and Denise Bell, on why reforming the agency at the edges will not work. Watch or listen: https://austinkocher.substack.com/p/they-are-going-to-kill-somebody-aclu

• Post #4052213

  The ACLU did something it never has before. It says ICE is too broken to fix and should be replaced, after documenting 1,200 enforcement incidents across eight states. My conversation with the authors. Watch or listen: https://austinkocher.substack.com/p/they-are-going-to-kill-somebody-aclu

• Post #3974297

  NEW DATA ALERT 🚨 ICE Quietly Arresting More People Than Ever According to Latest Data. After months of data silence, ICE's new numbers show 65,765 people in immigration detention, deportations near 1,250 a day, and arrests now at 1,474 a day. https://austinkocher.substack.com/p/ice-quietly-arresting-more-people

• Post #3898909

  Human Rights Watch and the ACLU documented beatings, medical neglect, and a death ruled a homicide inside Fort Bliss, the largest US immigration detention site. Read the report: https://www.hrw.org/report/2026/07/15/youre-only-getting-out-deported-or-dead/abusive-us-immigration-detention-at-ft

• Post #3895251

  Human Rights Watch and the ACLU spent eight months investigating Camp East Montana at Fort Bliss, the largest immigration detention facility in US history. They interviewed 80 people. 64 said they were beaten or saw others beaten, and more than 60 were denied or delayed medication. In January, a 55-year-old Cuban man died at the facility, and the medical examiner ruled his death a homicide. Last week I hosted Human Rights Watch to discuss exactly this trend. https://www.hrw.org/report/2026/07/1...

• Post #3871484

  Want a reason to read my work on Substack? I've been writing substantive forward-looking articles long before the recent trend to the platform, including this one from 2022(!), way ahead of its time: "Immigration Enforcement is Going 'Big Data' (and It Will Affect All of Us)." https://austinkocher.substack.com/p/immigration-enforcement-is-going?utm_source=publication-search

• Post #3863202

  When someone in ICE custody needs medical care, officers bring them to a hospital and stay. Training never prepared doctors and nurses for that. Thursday July 23 at 1pm ET I'm hosting a live conversation with the NILC team behind a new guide. https://austinkocher.substack.com/p/event-announcement-ice-in-the-emergency