Federal law generally prohibits schools from releasing students's personal info without parental consent. ICE officers can only access a student's confidential information if they have a signed judicial warrant or a subpoena. Here's what else you should know before the first day of school:

“We have studied immigration detention for over a decade and can say with grim certainty that it's just a matter of time until someone dies at Alligator Alcatraz.” Immigration Detention Inc. authors @nancyhiemstra.bsky.social and @drdconlon.bsky.social for @newsweek.com buff.ly/AKmDSJY

The Trump administration is set to expand Fort Bliss into the largest immigration detention center in the country, but the El Paso community is pushing back. We join demands for transparency and assurance that local elected officials, attorneys, and advocates will be able to access the facility.

The SSN Media Fellowship is back for a third year! This program supports SSN members who are new to media work by connecting them with mentors in the network, offering workshops with the SSN national staff, and more. #Fellowship 🗓️ Apply by September 1st 🔗 Apply now: scholars.org/features/ssn...

@drdconlon.bsky.social, author of Immigration Detention Inc. speaks with the Make Me Smart Podcast by @marketplace.org about how immigration detention became dominated by private companies in the United States. Listen here: www.marketplace.org/episode/2025...

“The authors reviewed hundreds of ICE inspection reports and compared them with external. The discrepancies are stark.” @austinkocher.com in conversation with Immigration Detention Inc. authors @nancyhiemstra.bsky.social and @drdconlon.bsky.social buff.ly/ppxZcpi

@drdconlon.bsky.social, author of Immigration Detention Inc. speaks with the Make Me Smart Podcast by @marketplace.org about how local economies have become entangled with the business of detention. Listen here: www.marketplace.org/episode/2025...

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!!!

“We have studied immigration detention for over a decade and can say with grim certainty that it's just a matter of time until someone dies at Alligator Alcatraz.” Immigration Detention Inc. authors @nancyhiemstra.bsky.social and @drdconlon.bsky.social for @newsweek.com buff.ly/AKmDSJY

just went to immigration court in Lower Manhattan to see with my own eyes how masked and armed federal agents are apprehending people in the hallways as they walk out of their scheduled hearings.

@nancyhiemstra.bsky.social and me @drdconlon.bsky.social have a new op-ed in Newsweek. Thanks to Scholars Strategy Network @scholars.org for all the support with this: www.newsweek.com/people-will-...

"They give you food only once a day, food that even has worms in it," Izquierdo said.

📚See you at the American Library Association Conference!📚 Authors @kylietcheung.bsky.social‬, ‪@nancyhiemstra.bsky.social‬, and @drdconlon.bsky.social‬ will speak about their books. Come join us! 🗓️June 26-30 🎟https://2025.alaannual.org/

📕Find Pluto and other radicals at @socialismconference.org‬ in Chicago! Authors @kylietcheung.bsky.social‬, @nancyhiemstra.bsky.social‬ and @drdconlon.bsky.social‬ will speak about their books. Come join us! 🗓️July 3-6 socialismconference.org/2025-schedule/

Immigration Detention Inc Book Launch: July 1, 7pm at Book Culture @drdconlon.bsky.social @plutopress.bsky.social

📚See you at the American Library Association Conference!📚 Authors @kylietcheung.bsky.social‬, ‪@nancyhiemstra.bsky.social‬, and @drdconlon.bsky.social‬ will speak about their books. Come join us! 🗓️June 26-30 🎟https://2025.alaannual.org/

“A revealing overview of the American business of for-profit migrant incarceration.” Immigration Detention Inc. by Nancy Hiemstra and @drdconlon.bsky.social reviewed in @publisherswkly.bsky.social

UK and France in talks over a one in, one out migrant returns agreement on.ft.com/3RSo5Jo

For @truthout.org I wrote about Mahmoud Khalil’s detention, how Trump is capitalizing on the normalization of incarcerating immigrants to enforce his creeping fascist agenda, and why this moment calls for us to bridge across our movements for social change. truthout.org/articles/kha...

Columbia University’s immediate submission & betrayal of the core mission of higher education reflects cowardice and capitulation to a government that appears intent on destroying US higher education. Full statement from AAUP President Todd Wolfson: www.aaup.org/news/cowardi...

Read @aviddetention.bsky.social's review of @mfbosworth.bsky.social's Supply Chain Justice: "[I]t is people who are the 'product' — people who arrive or stay in the UK and are subject to detention, people who are sorted, managed, moved, and monetised." www.aviddetention.org.uk/article/refl...

#NewYorkCity: Today, city leaders took one of many necessary steps to protect immigrant communities from the Trump administration’s relentless attacks by passing resolutions in support of the Access to Representation Act and the New York for All Act.

With this move, the NYC Council chose to support due process and strengthen public safety in this critical moment. Now, Governor Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers must do the same and safeguard immigrant communities by passing these two critical state bills. Read our full statement ⬇️

When I was young--which is to say, up until January 19, 2025--lawsuits were sort of boring and technical. Now they're bold and technicolor, as good lawyers stand up against against a luridly criminal administration. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Wonderful piece on the many dangers & limits of criminalizing anti-semitism.

Three people died in detention over the last month, ages ranging from 29-45. As @prisonculture.bsky.social has said, prisons are death making institutions. The expansion being implemented by Trump & enabled by the Dems will only lead to more loss of life www.detentionwatchnetwork.org/pressroom/re...

I talked to USA Today this week for an important story: "If the data was out there and transparent, it would undermine their story," said Austin Kocher, a research professor at Syracuse University who studies immigration." www.usatoday.com/story/news/p...

The Trump admin is quickly expanding migrant detention. In this brief, Nancy Hiemstra (@stonybrooku.bsky.social) & @drdconlon.bsky.social (@envleeds.bsky.social) explain how this creates incentives to keep facilities full, making rollback difficult. Learn more: scholars.org/contribution...

"Editor's Note: Insiders tell me these firings are political punishment for judges deemed too liberal." www.lexisnexis.com/community/in...

San Francisco and Santa Clara counties, joined by three other cities and counties across the country, are suing the Trump administration over its threats to punish jurisdictions that have sanctuary immigration policies, calling the moves unconstitutional. via @kqednews.kqed.org

Announcing spring 2025 public programs! In-depth discussions, nuanced perspectives, inspiring ideas. Join us in person or online – RESERVE: www.gc.cuny.edu/public-progr... @cathyndavidson.bsky.social @pkrugman.bsky.social @asrc-gc.bsky.social @humanitiescuny.bsky.social @cuny.edu

For what it’s worth, I have also heard that both funded and private LSPs have been kicked out of ICE detention centers

Even amid the excitement of a remarkable farewell, the Biden administration also leaves behind immigration policies and measures bound to have a profound and damaging impact after his departure from office.

Private prisons have been working closely with ICE under the Biden admin and their stocks have risen with Trump elected. But do local economies actually benefit from immigration detention? No. immigration detention just means mass suffering. Read more: www.detentionwatchnetwork.org/sites/defaul...

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported more than 270,000 people to 192 countries over a recent 12-month period, the highest annual tally in a decade. apnews.com/article/immi...

Thread/Breaking : New documents obtained by the ACLU reveal that ICE is actively considering proposals to expand its immigration detention capacity in at least 6 states , including in California, Kansas, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, and Washington. www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...

There will be no mass deportation without mass detention, which is why I wanted to revisit this important topic from a new perspective. Immigrant Detention in Focus: The Unconventional Photography of Greg Constantine austinkocher.substack.com/p/immigrant-...

Financial reporting about the GEO Group, ICE's biggest private contractor for detention, reveals that GEO has announced a $70 million investment to increase ICE detention capacity from 21K to 32K beds/day. www.stocktitan.net/news/GEO/the...

"Researchers like Geoff Boyce... have published work that shows how some surveillance towers, and other border and surveillance infrastructure, create a funneling effect that corrals and drives migrants to some of the most remote and harsh desert landscapes, sometimes resulting in their deaths."

The Biden administration “will hand off the same system that Democrats and Republicans have always created”, said Austin Kocher, assistant research professor at Syracuse University, who studies the US’s immigration enforcement system. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024...

French Interior Minister threatens to terminate Le Touquet Treaty and calls for a more comprehensive deal between the UK and EU. UK would be very keen on latter. Not so keen on former... Meeting with Yvette Cooper on 9 Dec. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...

Quoted today in the VT Digger, where they mentioned Sam, Sarah’s and my research on border surveillance towers:

In our latest issue: A long-term analysis (1850–1980) of socio-material fracturing of flood protection infrastructures in an Alpine valley, by Antoine Brochet and colleagues www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Interested in the train wreck that’s unfolding in UK higher ed? This is worth a listen: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Private equity firms control more than $6 trillion in assets in the U.S. But what makes them different from any other type of investor putting their money into a business? Here's how they operate. 👇 By @themorrancave.bsky.social and @danielpetty.bsky.social

Lots of quotes from @petramolnar.com and myself in this latest article “Private contractors in US eye windfall from Trump’s push to deport migrants.” www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/11...

Immigration Reading List: Books to Broaden Your Perspective on Migration (2024) Looking for a good book about immigration? 📚 Thanks to many reader contributions, we’ve got you covered with brand new book recommendations. austinkocher.substack.com/p/immigratio...

so long x, see you @drdconlon.bsky.social

‘Alarming’ number of lone children held in UK-run facilities in France .. Helped on research with @DetentionForum a while ago on short term holding facilities (STHFs) in Northern France, it’s good to see @DetentionForum quoted here:...