معرفی
Austin Kocher is a Research Assistant Professor at Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and holds a secondary faculty appointment in the Department of Geography. He is also an affiliated expert at the Institute for Democracy, Journalism, and Citizenship and a Research Fellow at the Center for Latin American and Latino Studies (CLALS) at American University. He earned his Ph.D. in Geography from Ohio State University.
Kocher's research examines the U.S. immigration and refugee system through legal-political geography frameworks, with focus areas including:
- Geographies of federal/state/local immigrant policing
- Detention/deportation mechanisms
- Immigration's role in political polarization
- Digital border technologies (e.g., CBP One app)
- Asylum policy transformations
Recent publications (2020-2023) predominantly analyze immigration enforcement under changing administrations, digital border infrastructures, sanctuary policies, and legal challenges in asylum systems. They consistently engage political geography, critical migration studies, and socio-legal frameworks while appearing in interdisciplinary journals like Political Geography, Georgetown Law Review, and Antipode.
He maintains affiliations with the Institute for Democracy, Journalism, and Citizenship and CLALS at American University, extending his research impact through policy engagement and media collaborations.
