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Austin Kocher, Ph.D.

Dr. Kocher is a political and legal geographer studying the theories, laws, and institutional practices behind immigration enforcement. His research focuses on the political and legal geography of immigration enforcement, examining topics such as mass immigrant surveillance, the digitization of asylum processes, and the impacts of immigration policies on vulnerable populations. His work critically analyzes the intersection of technology and immigration control, as well as the socio-legal challenges faced by immigrants within the U.S. legal system.

Assistant Research Professor in the Office of Research and Creative Activity in the S.I. Newhouse of Public Communication at Syracuse University. I am also an affiliated faculty member with the Department of Geography at the Maxwell School, and an affiliated expert at the Institute for Democracy, Journalism, and Citizenship. Kocher is also a Research Fellow at American University’s Center for Latin American and Latino Studies and the Immigration Lab.

His research has appeared in journals such as Antipode, American Behavioral Scientist, Territory, Politics, Governance, Societies, Georgetown Law Journal, and Journal of Latin American Geography. Kocher is often featured in the national news as an expert on immigration, including outlets such as C-SPAN, NPR, The New York Times, NPR’s Morning Edition, and many more.

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Recent Publications

  1. Davidson, L., Hlass, L., & Kocher. A. (2023) “The Double Abandonment of Immigrant Youth: How the Special Immigrant Juvenile Status Program Harms Those It Was Designed to Protect.” Georgetown Law Review. Available online.
  2. Kocher, A. (2023). Glitches in the Digitization of Asylum: How CBP One Turns Migrants’ Smartphones into Mobile Borders. Societies, 13(6), 149. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc13060149
  3. Kocher, A. (2023). Growing Numbers of Afghan Migrants Face Deportation in Court. The Immigration Lab Blog. https://theimmigrationlab.org/blog/f/growing-numbers-of-afghan-migrants-face-deportation-in-court
  4. Jones, R., Kocher, A., Sultana, F., Smiles, D., McSweeney, K., & Molnar, P. (2023). Interventions on public geographies. Political Geography. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2023.103007.

Upcoming Events & Speaking Engagements

  • May 2-3, 2025: UCLA Asylum Conference in Los Angeles, California.
  • May 15, 2025: NPR Criminal Justice Fly-in in Washington, D.C. May 20-21, 2025: Emergency Scholars Conference, The Ohio State University
  • May 29-30, 2025: Speaking at the Transparency Convening with American Immigration Council, American Oversight, and Muckrock in Washington, D.C.
  • October 2025: Keynote Speaker at Immigration Law & Justice New York Gala in New York City.

Recent Events & Speaking Engagements