Austin Kocher, PhD

Trump fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics simply because he didn’t like the data. A hallmark of authoritarian leadership is being unable to accept reality and taking that out on people simply doing their jobs. 

Detention Reports Updated: New Data, Improved Search, and Growing Media Adoption Detention Reports now updated with latest ICE data covering 184 facilities. New features include state filtering and data quality notes based on user feedback.

Detention Reports Updated: New Data, Improved Search, and Growing Media Adoption

Detention Reports now updated with latest ICE data covering 184 facilities. New features include state filtering and data quality notes based on user feedback.

austinkocher.substack.com/p/detention-...

Will the Real AI Please Stand Up?: Artificial Intelligence vs. Authentic Insight AI can generate content, but human expertise offers something irreplaceable: authentic insight rooted in experience, judgment, and accountability. Here's what that means for academics.

Will the Real AI Please Stand Up?: Artificial Intelligence vs. Authentic Insight

AI can generate content, but human expertise offers something irreplaceable: authentic insight rooted in experience, judgment, and accountability.

austinkocher.substack.com/p/will-the-r...

Excited to learn that I'm in the current issue of People magazine! Keep up with the latest immigration data, policy, and research at austinkocher.substack.com, the resource that 10,000 readers trust for timely nonpartisan information. (Thanks to Matt Boaz for catching this!)

Corporation for Public Broadcasting will shut down after Trump funding cuts | CNN Business The CPB announced on Friday that it will wind down its operations due to the successful Republican effort to defund local PBS and NPR stations across the country.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting announced on Friday that it will wind down its operations due to the successful Republican effort to defund local PBS and NPR stations across the country.

www.cnn.com/2025/08/01/m...

On the use of jail space for immigrant detention, @austinkocher.com said "“It’s easier to get sheriffs and counties to sign on to holding people for ICE than it is to build brand new facilities.”

A new report from the American Statistical Association reveals that federal statistical agencies—the government offices that collect and publish official data about everything from unemployment rates to immigration patterns—are in serious trouble.

www.amstat.org/docs/default...

Awesome, thanks for sharing on here, Heather.

“Most significant omission in ICE’s data is the absence of any info about the facility in Florida known as “Alligator Alcatraz.” This omission exists because the facility is operated by the state of Florida, not by ICE, and detainees held there are not formally in ICE custody.”

New Detention Numbers Are Out, ICE Still Hiding Data on 'Alligator Alcatraz' At least 56,945 immigrants are held in ICE detention this week, with untold numbers hidden from public view in off-the-books sites in Florida and in field offices across the country.

New Detention Numbers Are Out, ICE Still Hiding Data on 'Alligator Alcatraz'

At least 56,945 immigrants are held in ICE detention this week, with untold numbers hidden from public view in sites in Florida and in field offices across the country.

austinkocher.substack.com/p/new-detent...

Just days ago, Relevant Research released DetentionReports.com and already news outlets are finding it to be a powerful tool for reporting and transparency. 👀 Congrats to Adam & Sunita for getting this done!

Learn more at: austinkocher.substack.com/p/new-tool-d...

I mean, technically going after everyone is also prosecutorial discretion, but I know what you mean and I agree.

I've studied the immigration enforcement system for 15 years. Democrats may express outrage at Republicans over Trump's immigration policies now, but the truth about who to blame is much more complicated.

austinkocher.substack.com/p/the-immigr...

Will the Real AI Please Stand Up?: Artificial Intelligence vs. Authentic Insight AI can generate content, but human expertise offers something irreplaceable: authentic insight rooted in experience, judgment, and accountability. Here's what that means for academics.

Will the Real AI Please Stand Up?: Artificial Intelligence vs. Authentic Insight

AI can generate content, but human expertise offers something irreplaceable: authentic insight rooted in experience, judgment, and accountability.

austinkocher.substack.com/p/will-the-r...

New Tool: Detention Reports Provides Valuable Updated Data about ICE Facilities

Relevant Research launches Deportation Reports, a new tool w/ real-time data on ICE detention centers using our Interval ADP method for more accurate population estimates.

➡️ detentionreports.com

Event Announcement: What does immigrant hospitality look like? A live conversation with Anton Flores about his new book, "Welcome, Friends." Please join Anton Flores and I on August 5 at 7:00 PM EST for a discussion about his two-decades of experience building community with immigrants and refugees. Register below.

Register today! -- Event Announcement: What does immigrant hospitality look like? A live conversation with Anton Flores about his new book, "Welcome, Friends."

austinkocher.substack.com/p/event-anno...

Hey Bluesky community, can we please elevate/reshare this issue like crazy to get @bsky.app's attention? It is absurd that after two years of promising to make user's data accessible for download, Bluesky STILL hasn't provided a simple accessible way to do this. Release our data!!!

Okay, it's not proprietary but it is stupid. There's no way to easily convert to a user-readable format as far as I can tell and at the documentation says this is about providing users with access to their data BUT admit that this is written for developers.

Super frustrated w/ @bsky.app's account download option for getting your post data out of the app. They use a proprietary .car binary file format that is almost impossible to work with. Atrocious, obfuscating, irresponsible, untransparent buffoonery. Just provide a friggin' .csv, ya dumb dumb heads.

Event Announcement: What does immigrant hospitality look like? A live conversation with Anton Flores about his new book, "Welcome, Friends." Please join Anton Flores and I on August 5 at 7:00 PM EST for a discussion about his two-decades of experience building community with immigrants and refugees. Register below.

Register today! -- Event Announcement: What does immigrant hospitality look like? A live conversation with Anton Flores about his new book, "Welcome, Friends."

austinkocher.substack.com/p/event-anno...

Georgia detainee with prosthetic legs who objected to flooded cell sent to solitary Rodney Taylor placed in ‘restrictive unit’ for refusing to enter flooded cell because his prosthetic legs can’t get wet

For ICE detainees with disabilities, it's “mismanagement bordering on medical neglect”, a researcher told me:

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
@austinkocher.com @immdef.bsky.social

Ohio's Butler County jail.

Very useful thoughts about both research and teaching here

for a deeper dive:

Austin Kocher | Substack Decode the U.S. immigration system with clear analysis backed by data and designed for curious readers. Click to read Austin Kocher, a Substack publication with thousands of subscribers.

If you want the latest immigration data 📊 and policy 🏛️ analysis on the Trump administration’s cruel mass deportation agenda, get it here: austinkocher.substack.com. If you already read and support this work, please give it a share. ❤️

Will the Real AI Please Stand Up?: Artificial Intelligence vs. Authentic Insight AI can generate content, but human expertise offers something irreplaceable: authentic insight rooted in experience, judgment, and accountability. Here's what that means for academics.

open.substack.com/pub/austinko...

Since I have been beating this particular drum for some thirty years ( along the same lines that @austinkocher.com explores here ), I will have more to say about this later.

Will the Real AI Please Stand Up?: Artificial Intelligence vs. Authentic Insight AI can generate content, but human expertise offers something irreplaceable: authentic insight rooted in experience, judgment, and accountability. Here's what that means for academics.

Will the Real AI Please Stand Up?: Artificial Intelligence vs. Authentic Insight

AI can generate content, but human expertise offers something irreplaceable: authentic insight rooted in experience, judgment, and accountability.

austinkocher.substack.com/p/will-the-r...

I've studied the immigration enforcement system for 15 years. Democrats may express outrage at Republicans over Trump's immigration policies now, but the truth about who to blame is much more complicated.

austinkocher.substack.com/p/the-immigr...

The Immigration Enforcement Ratchet: A 15-Year Perspective on Policy Continuity Immigration enforcement systems persist across administrations through institutional momentum, creating a "ratchet effect" that transcends partisan politics and electoral cycles.

"When Republicans are in power, Democrats express outrage at immigration enforcement policies. When Democrats are in power, those same policies often remain in place or even expand." Thank you @austinkocher.com austinkocher.substack.com/p/the-immigr...

Great resource!