Meet the UC Berkeley data team who proved Trump isn't deporting just worst of the worst'

"After President Donald Trump's campaign pledge to carry out the largest mass deportation in U.S. history, his second term has been marked by scenes of masked agents grabbing people from work sites and city streets and sending them to unsanitary makeshift detention sites or prisons in foreign countries where they have no ties. Top administration officials say those being detained and deported are the worst of the worst."

"The trouble is that it can be tricky to know what is happening inside the byzantine network of agencies that make up the country's immigration system. Under Trump, the Department of Homeland Security stopped publishing monthly statistics on removals and deportations and now only publishes detentions, as mandated by Congress. Even then, the releases tend to be inconsistent, not linked and seldom explain the numbers they contain."

"Now journalists, lawyers and others seeking accurate immigration data have a powerful new resource, thanks to a group of data scientists and lawyers at UC Berkeley's School of Law. Launched in March, it's called Deportation Data Project and it's a free repository of immigration enforcement data. Since the Trump administration has tamped down on immigration statistics, the project's releases have been the only source of detailed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) data since the inauguration."

President Donald Trump's second term has involved mass deportation actions including masked agents seizing people from worksites and streets and sending them to unsanitary makeshift detention sites or foreign prisons where detainees have no ties. Administration officials label detainees as the worst offenders, while available statistics suggest otherwise. The Department of Homeland Security ceased publishing monthly removals and deportation statistics and now publishes only detentions, with releases that are inconsistent, unlinked and seldom explained. A UC Berkeley School of Law team launched the Deportation Data Project, a free repository that compiles available statistics and files monthly FOIA requests; its releases have supplied detailed ICE data since the inauguration.

Read at www.berkeleyside.org