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“We do this because we care about government transparency, accountability and making this data available for the public but also for academic researchers as well,” said Austin Kocher, a research assistant professor at TRAC.
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The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse — a data gathering, research and distribution organization based at Syracuse University — found that the United States’ Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s detention numbers in September returned to pre-pandemic levels with over 35,000 detainees.
TRAC, which was founded in 1989 through a joint sponsorship by the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and the Martin J. Whitman School of Management, uses the Freedom of Information Act to obtain and analyze federal data. Through its work, TRAC makes key government data accessible and comprehensible to the general public, according to its website.
“We do this because we care about government transparency, accountability and making this data available for the public but also for academic researchers as well,” said Austin Kocher, a research assistant professor at TRAC.
TRAC publishes reports and tools for free to the public on the internet, allowing users to closely examine what particular government agencies — like ICE, the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration — are doing, according to Susan Long, TRAC co-founder, co-director and associate professor of managerial statistics in Whitman.
Long said one of TRAC’s most used analyses is its project on immigration enforcement, as many people who access its research are interested in the border and asylum seekers in the United States.
ICE is also currently monitoring 194,632 families and individuals through alternatives to detention programs as of September, according to TRAC’s Immigration Quick Facts website. Long said these alternative detention methods include smartphone apps or ankle monitors. TRAC also found that Texas held over 10,000 individuals in its detention facilities during the 2023 fiscal year.
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