The current presidential administration is hellbent on making life difficult, if not impossible, for immigrants in the United States. Following through on campaign promises of mass deportation, Donald Trump has directed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to raid neighborhoods and workplaces or otherwise expedite the removal of hundreds of thousands of people² who are in the country under various programs. This is an escalation of the troubling, decades-long merger of criminal and immigration law, sometimes referred to as “crimmigration.“ The government’s treatment of immigrants as criminals — from policing and criminally prosecuting them to incarcerating them in oppressive detention centers — raises profound concerns about due process, constitutionality, and the humane treatment of people.

About 48,000 immigrants¹ are languishing in immigration detention centers, local jails, private prisons, and other facilities like hospitals and hotels. Tens of thousands more are in federal prisons and local jails, primarily for simply entering the country; thousands more are children, in shelters, awaiting permanent placement. Add to this the hundreds of people from Venezuela that the U.S. has now disappeared to a mega prison in El Salvador, arguing it has no duty to provide them due process, and no power or responsibility over what happens to them next.

These numbers provide only a glimpse at the complex web of immigration detention, but they’re important given the many false narratives and misinformation filling the airwaves. It’s more important than ever to know where timely, reliable data exist about immigration detention and advocacy efforts to end the unjust confinement and removal of people and families who enter the U.S.

While we include immigration detention in our broad view of mass incarceration, it is not our primary area of expertise. For those looking to learn more about the crimmigration crisis, we’ve compiled several resources from experts and organizations directly focused on immigration. These lists are far from exhaustive and resources listed in no particular order; if there are others you think we should know about, please get in touch via our contact form.

Information and statistics about immigrant detention and removal

• The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) is an essential resource for immigration data and summary reports about trends in immigration detention. (It also offers data and analysis on other federal agencies and issues.)
• Freedom For Immigrants, an organization working to abolish immigration incarceration, maintains a detailed interactive map on immigration detention, with data points like ICE field offices, companies that contract with ICE, and deaths in ICE detention.
• The federal agency itself, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), maintains the following data, though it should be approached with a measure of “data skepticism”:
  • ICE’s Detention Statistics dataset is updated twice per month and contains detailed data about people in custody, where they’re confined, the number of people on electronic monitoring or other surveillance technologies,³
    and other metrics like length of stay and segregation. (Scroll down to the bottom of the linked page to find the download links for the most recent data and previous year-end reports.)
  • ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) statistics dashboards present the agency’s arrest, detention, removal, and expulsion data in a more interactive format, and include information about country of citizenship, how many people had a criminal conviction or pending charges, and changes over time.
  • ICE publishes lists of both active and pending 287(g) partnerships — those state and local law enforcement agencies who voluntarily report the immigration status of people in their custody to ICE, and carry out other immigration functions on ICE’s behalf.

Immigration advocacy efforts (national-level)

• The National Immigrant Justice Center, which has been providing legal services, research, and advocacy for over 40 years, has a lot of information on its website for those interested in how immigration intersects with mass incarceration, legal representation, the LGBTQ+ community, and other topics.
• Similarly, the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, which engages in policy advocacy as well as training and support for legal advocates, has compiled a number of policy maps, explainers, toolkits, model policies, and other timely resources for advocates on its Immigration Enforcement webpage.
• Detention Watch Network has comprehensive overviews of immigration detention issues, from family detention to ineffective oversight and the laws, quotas, and financial incentives that keep immigration detention centers filled.
• United We Dream has an extensive library of resources ranging from guides and fact sheets to webinars and livestreams.
• The Black Alliance for Just Immigration has compiled all immigration-related executive actions from the Trump administration, with clear explanations of what they entail and how they may impact Black immigrant communities.
• The Pioneer Valley Workers Center, an organization of low-wage immigrant workers in western Massachusetts, has advice for those looking to set up a “rapid-response network” of volunteers and services that can provide immediate assistance during immigration crackdowns and workplace raids. Though originally published in 2018, this resource remains relevant today.

Analysis and commentary

• César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández is a writer, law professor, and fierce advocate for a just and functional system of immigration laws. In addition to authoring three books about crimmigration, he maintains a newsletter, Immigration Law Unhinged, which has been tracking the Trump administration’s actions.
• Syracuse Professor Austin Kocher also writes a helpful data-focused newsletter with insights about immigration data and policy, as well as tips for data literacy for people working with official immigration data published by ICE.
• John Washington is a journalist and author of The Case for Open Borders, which exposes the dangers and lost creative potential of closed national borders, and makes the case for drastically rethinking how we approach borders.
• A recent Truthout article details the embrace of increased immigration detention by jails and private prisons across the country.
• In These Times, a monthly news magazine focused on politics and the economy, has published an opinion piece on the current blitz on immigrants and others who merely express ideas counter to the current administration.
• Silky Shah is a longtime immigrant justice organizer and currently the Executive Director of Detention Watch Network. Her writing can be found in several media outlets, but her book Unbuild Walls is a thorough primer on the intertwined systems of immigration and incarceration.
• Debunking misinformation is just as helpful as putting out accurate information. The American Immigration Council has done just that, with a fact sheet amassing dozens of studies all showing plainly that there is no connection between immigration and crime.
• The Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank, put out this helpful explainer on why immigration is beneficial to the U.S. economy, busting myths about how immigration impacts jobs, taxes, housing costs, and more.
• Migrant Insider provides regular coverage and analysis of immigration news with a special focus on happenings ‘inside the Beltway’ — i.e., in Congress, the executive branch, and more.
• Jess Pishko’s Posse Comitatus newsletter is an indispensable resource on sheriffs, who play a unique and important role in immigration enforcement. One recent article examines Florida as “ground zero” for Trump’s mass deportation agenda.

Resources for immigrants, journalists, attorneys, and educators

For immigrants, “Know your rights” resources are all over the internet. These are some we found to be the most valuable:

• United We Dream published a Preparedness Packet of essential documents and key legal information to keep in a safe place, in case of immigration emergencies.
• Muslims for Just Futures has a free double-sided poster print-out with guidance on how to handle an unexpected visit from immigration law enforcement.
• Freedom for Immigrants‘ Resources page contains contact information and answers to common questions about immigrant detention and legal assistance.
• The National Immigration Law Center has a library of FAQs, fact sheets, and one-pagers about immigration enforcement and the rapidly changing policies and executive orders impacting immigrant communities.

Journalists, attorneys, and educators may find these additional resources helpful:

• Freedom for Immigrants has specific resources for journalists covering these issues.
• The Immigrant Legal Resource Center is a treasure trove of resources for attorneys and legal advocates, offering legal trainings, practice manuals, technical assistance, and other educational materials, including timely, responsive guidance about new policies and practices. In addition to serving legal advocates, they publish resources for directly-impacted people and community advocates.
• The National Immigration Project trains thousands of attorneys each year to ensure high-quality legal representation for immigration. Their library of resources for attorneys includes practice advisories, quick guides, and summaries of relevant case law.
• For educators, we suggest checking out this robust toolkit from the Children Thrive Action Network, which features a wide range of resources for helping children and families facing deportation, preparing communities to respond to workplace raids, and educating the public and lawmakers about the impact of immigration enforcement on children.
• The Zinn Education Project offers educators several role play lessons to help students think critically about immigration, particularly in historical context.
• The National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers’ union, “strongly encourages schools and school districts to adopt a Safe Zones policy that outlines what educators, and staff should do if ICE attempts to engage in immigration enforcement at school.” It offers a toolkit for creating these protections.