Austin Kocher, PhD

To everyone who took time out yesterday, and to everyone joining us today, thank you. Genuinely. Your time and presence in these conversations is what makes them worth having.

Tonight I get to spend time with the team at @AshreiSTL and the network of people who make social justice work possible in St. Louis. These are the relationships and the infrastructure that make everything else sustainable.

This matters to me: when it comes to understanding the immigration system, nobody should have to just rely on experts or take our word for it. People deserve to see the data themselves, know how to work with it, and draw their own conclusions. That's what today is about.

This afternoon I'm at WashU facilitating a hands-on workshop on immigration data. This one isn't about me presenting my findings. It's about helping people find their own.

This morning I’m meeting with immigration attorneys w Hacking Imm. Law to hear what they’re seeing in their clients’ cases and better understand the local, state, and federal arrangements that make mass detention and deportation possible. Here to listen and learn.

Day 2 in St. Louis. Yesterday was one of the most educational days I've had in a long time, getting to see up close the incredible work people are doing here to build power for immigrants, workers, international students, and US citizens. A lot is happening in this city. 🧵

This is the backdrop for conversations happening in St. Louis this week. This morning I'm with Hacking Immigration Law breakfast roundtable with local immigration practitioners, the attorneys who see this system up close, every day.

Adelanto has seen rapid population growth since mid-2025. Rapid scale-up of detention has not meant better transparency or care, ICE's own death announcements frequently contain vague or contradictory information about cause of death.

ICE's press release about his death included a new line that hasn't appeared in official government communications before, a defensive claim about the quality of care in detention. It's not grammatical. More importantly, it appeared in an official record about someone's death.

Last week, ICE announced the 38th death in its detention system since January 2025. Alberto Gutierrez-Reyes, 48, was being held at Adelanto after being arrested in Echo Park, LA. His family says he was denied medical care despite repeated requests. 🧵

Understanding where detention happens, how these contracts work, and who is being held is essential for advocates, attorneys, and elected officials. It's also the kind of analysis I'll be digging into this morning in St. Louis. Join us for a breakfast roundtable at 7:30am.

These aren't federal detention centers. They're county sheriff jails operating under contracts with ICE, the kind of local infrastructure that most people never think about until someone they know ends up inside. Greene County Jail alone is holding 280 people right now.

Missouri has 483 people currently held in ICE detention across 4 county jails, 84% of them with no criminal record. The closest facility to St. Louis is Ste. Genevieve County Jail, 64 miles away, with an ICE bed capacity of 400. This is what enforcement looks like locally. 🧵

How long until Kristi Noem gets signed to CBS as a regular contributor—or has it already happened?

All immigration enforcement is local, as @austinkocher.com argues.

A great breakdown of what this means for Missouri and the St. Louis area ⤵️

I am in St. Louis this week unpacking exactly this. Open to all.

The Kansas City immigration court is now handling a record volume of cases. Voluntary departures from KC hit an all-time recorded high in late 2025 — a signal of how much enforcement pressure is being felt across Missouri and the surrounding region.

People in St. Louis facing removal proceedings are routed to immigration courts in Kansas City or Chicago.
That means:
— Travel, missed work, childcare barriers
— Finding attorneys licensed in a different jurisdiction
— Hearings far from any local support network

Here's another piece of the puzzle: St. Louis has no functioning immigration court. The St. Louis hearing location processed cases through about 2009, then went effectively dormant. Total NTAs filed there over 22 years: 4,855. Kansas City handled 136,934 in the same period.

Missouri's ICE detention footprint:
📍 Greene County Jail — 3.5 hrs from STL
📍 Ste. Genevieve County Jail — 1 hr from STL
📍 Ozark County Sheriff — 3+ hrs from STL
📍 Phelps County Jail — 1.5 hrs from STL
This is not random. Remote detention is a feature, not a bug.

Phelps County Jail in Rolla has held up to 66 people for ICE at once. As of October 2025, it was holding 8. The contract is still active. Capacity can be used at any time.

The facility closest to St. Louis? Ste Genevieve County Sheriff/Jail about an hour south of the city. It was holding roughly 87–109 people for ICE in October 2025, with a recorded peak of 121. Most people detained there are from the St. Louis metro. Most of their lawyers are too.

The largest ICE detention facility in Missouri right now isn't a dedicated immigration jail.
It's Greene County Jail in Springfield — currently holding around 266 people for ICE. Its recorded peak was 302. Springfield is 3.5 hours from St. Louis.

As of October 2025, Missouri had approximately 390 people held in ICE detention across the state. Not in St. Louis. Not in Kansas City. Almost entirely in rural counties — hours from their families, their attorneys, and any legal services.

I'm in St. Louis this week for a series of public events on immigration enforcement with Ashrei Foundation Before tonight's panel, a thread on what ICE detention actually looks like in Missouri right now — because the geography tells you a lot.

Then tonight at 6pm I'll be joining an incredible panel at Berges Auditorium (Delmar Divine) "Local Voices on Immigration Enforcement and Community Defense" alongside organizers, attorneys, and advocates doing this work every day in St. Louis. Open to All.

This afternoon at 2pm I'll be giving a public talk at Saint Louis University "Making Sense of Immigration Enforcement in 2026" taking stock of where we are one year into the second Trump administration: what's changed, what's unprecedented, and what's coming.

First stop this morning: an in-studio conversation with Brian Munoz at St. Louis Public Radio. Immigration enforcement is reshaping daily life in Missouri and local journalism is one of the most important ways communities make sense of it.

Just landed in St. Louis, rainy and ready. Spending the next four days here for a packed schedule of public events on immigration enforcement, organized by Ashrei Foundation . A lot is happening in this region, and I'm glad to be part of the conversation. 🧵

ICE Warehouse in Hagerstown, MD Watch now | Today I’m on the ground in Hagerstown, MD with The Real News Network, examining ICE’s detention reengineering program and what a planned warehouse detention facility looks like up close.​​...

@therealnews.com and @austinkocher.com are covering developments here very well: "ICE Warehouse in Hagerstown, MD" austinkocher.substack.com/p/ice-wareho...

See also "ICE spending billions to turn warehouses into migrant detention facilities"
www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...