📈 By the numbers: The AZ-Mexico border & immigration

January 17, 2025
by RJ Hamster

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Your Week with AZCentral

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Fri Jan 17 2025

Kara Edgerson | Manager of Digital Operations

Hey readers,

The inauguration of President Donald Trump is set to take place on Monday, Jan. 20 , in Washington, D.C. He and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance will take their respective oaths of office before celebrations take place.

Trump has promised to start mass deportations on “day one” and to tighten border security. As we enter a new era of immigration enforcement, The Republic has launched a project to show relevant data about where the country and Arizona stand.

We have a team of reporters who will be gathering available government data on the border and immigration. Kunle Falayi, a data reporter on The Republic’s investigations team, specializes in data visualization and visual storytelling. He spoke to us about the information the team will gather over the next few months on the undocumented population, encounters at the border, deportations and much more.

Here’s what he had to say:

The latest numbers: How many undocumented immigrants are in the US? How many have been deported?

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Can you tell us a little about the graphics the data reporters will produce around immigration enforcement?

Kunle: Earlier in December there was a discussion with the newsroom editors about the best way to cover the immigration policies of the coming administration. It was obvious that data would be important to that coverage. The idea is to collect every data that would be important to the immigration discourse with the main aim of establishing a baseline of where things stand now. Obviously, immigration would be one of the biggest topics in the coming months and possibly over the next four years. This is not just because we are in a major border state, but also because it would be one of the most controversial policies of the coming administration.

There is too much immigration data out there, so we had to find a way to organize them in a way that they do not overwhelm our readers. We also wanted to make it possible for them to make sense of all the data we present with little effort. This is why we built multiple data graphics around each sub-topic of immigration.

What can our readers expect from the data team? How can your work help us visually understand Trump’s policies and how they impact Arizonans?

Kunle: Putting the data and graphics together is just a start. For the next few months, the team of reporters involved in this project would be producing many stories that would help readers make sense of the graphics in more detail.

However, the impact of what we are trying to achieve with all the immigration data and graphics would probably not be seen immediately. The baseline I mentioned earlier has a purpose. President-elect Donald Trump has promised a raft of immigration actions as soon as he assumes office. In a few months, these data and graphics would help our readers measure how things have changed. How much action has been taken and how much it differs from the past years.

Migrant apprehensions and encounters by the US Customs and Border Protection and the US Border Patrol

The Republic

Is there anything else we should know about the work from the data team in 2025?

Kunle: All the data we have gathered show where things stand now. There is a lot of surprising information in the data. As someone tasked with putting all these data out there, I personally learned a lot more than I knew before this project. I am sure this would be the same for many of our readers when they eventually read the different web pages on which the graphics live. One way to inform the public and dispel misinformation is to share with their circle any of the data or graphics which they find interesting.

What we have provided online already is not the limit of the project. We are working on updating the data and graphics with important ones like the border wall.

Subscribe to our American Border newsletter

To help Arizonans — and people across the Southwest and nation — keep abreast of the latest developments on Trump’s immigration and border policies, The Republic has launched a weekly newsletter called American Border. Our friend Raphael Romero Ruiz, who used to write this newsletter but now covers the border for The Republic, will be your host. Sign up here!

📧 Newsletter: Follow all mass deportation and immigration news by signing up for the American Border newsletter

See all the latest data on immigration, deportations

To create a baseline for following immigration changes, The Republic has gathered the latest available government data on the border and immigration.

READ MORE

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📈 By the numbers: The AZ-Mexico border & immigration

📈 By the numbers: The AZ-Mexico border & immigration

Your Week with AZCentral

Kara Edgerson | Manager of Digital Operations

Can you tell us a little about the graphics the data reporters will produce around immigration enforcement?

What can our readers expect from the data team? How can your work help us visually understand Trump’s policies and how they impact Arizonans?

Is there anything else we should know about the work from the data team in 2025?

Subscribe to our American Border newsletter

See all the latest data on immigration, deportations

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Why Arizona is ranked among worst states for families

Phoenix to tie record for 2nd longest dry spell. When will it rain?

What to expect as Arizona Legislature gets back to work

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Sign up for the news you want

Like this:

📈 By the numbers: The AZ-Mexico border & immigration

📈 By the numbers: The AZ-Mexico border & immigration

Your Week with AZCentral

Kara Edgerson | Manager of Digital Operations

Can you tell us a little about the graphics the data reporters will produce around immigration enforcement?

What can our readers expect from the data team? How can your work help us visually understand Trump’s policies and how they impact Arizonans?

Is there anything else we should know about the work from the data team in 2025?

Subscribe to our American Border newsletter

See all the latest data on immigration, deportations

Essential restaurants 2025: 50 of 100 top spots

Why Arizona is ranked among worst states for families

Phoenix to tie record for 2nd longest dry spell. When will it rain?

What to expect as Arizona Legislature gets back to work

What was AZ like back in the day? Share your memories

Sign up for the news you want

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Like this:

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