How many civilians have died during encounters with ICE agents since 2000?
Executive summary
A precise tally of civilians killed during encounters with ICE agents since 2000 cannot be produced from the reporting supplied here; the available sources document individual deadly incidents and narrow time‑period tallies (not a comprehensive two‑decade total), and they show both on‑duty shootings and deaths in ICE custody but do not together add up to a single verified count for 2000–2026 [1] [2] [3] [4]. Reporting does establish recent clusters of lethal encounters — including high‑profile on‑camera shootings and a sharp rise in deaths in detention in 2025 — but the data supplied are insufficient to answer “how many since 2000” with confidence [1] [2].
1. What the sources actually count and what they don’t
Federal and journalistic sources in the collection focus on recent incidents, investigations, and year‑by‑year spikes rather than producing a running, agency‑verified total since 2000: ICE’s own pages list fallen ICE officers (line‑of‑duty deaths) but do not enumerate civilians killed by ICE agents [5], and news organizations cite discrete shooting incidents and deaths in custody in specific years without offering a full historical aggregate for the two‑decade span [1] [2] [3].
2. Confirmed, high‑profile fatal shootings documented in these reports
The reporting documents multiple recent fatal shootings involving immigration enforcement: the January 7, 2026 killing of Renée Nicole Good in Minneapolis by an ICE agent is repeatedly cited [1] [6], and other incidents around late‑2025 — including the off‑duty shooting of Keith Porter on New Year’s Eve — are referenced by advocacy groups and outlets [4] [7]. Local and national outlets have counted a string of shootings in that concentrated period but restrict their tallies to specific time frames [3] [7].
3. Short‑term tallies reported by news outlets and advocacy groups
Several sources give short‑term counts: one analysis reported 16 shooting incidents by immigration officials during the president’s second term to date, resulting in four deaths and multiple injuries, according to The Trace/Newsroom aggregation cited by WMUR and others [3]; separate coverage and advocacy reporting flagged “16 shootings” and more than 30 deaths in ICE custody during 2025 alone [2] [4]. Those figures indicate acute recent mortality but are explicitly bounded to specific periods rather than to 2000 onward [2] [3].
4. Distinguishing categories: shootings vs. deaths in custody vs. other lethal encounters
The available reporting separates at least three categories that matter for any total: agent‑involved shootings (some on duty, some off duty) that produced civilian deaths [1] [7], deaths that occurred while people were held in ICE detention facilities (not necessarily shot by agents) and spiked in 2025 [2] [4], and other encounters such as traffic‑stop shootings or use‑of‑force incidents under investigation [8] [3]. These categories are tracked differently by media and advocacy groups, complicating any single aggregate without harmonized methodology [2] [3].
5. Why a definitive 2000–present number is not available in these sources
None of the supplied documents presents an authoritative, agency‑verified cumulative count of civilians killed in encounters with ICE agents since 2000; ICE’s public site catalogs fallen ICE personnel, not civilians [5], while news organizations and watchdogs provide episodic or year‑specific tallies that do not span the full period requested [1] [2] [3]. Where short‑term totals exist they are explicit about their limited scope rather than claiming a comprehensive two‑decade count [3].
6. How to get the number requested (next steps for researchers)
To produce a credible total for 2000–present would require combining multiple datasets — ICE internal use‑of‑force and detention mortality records obtained via FOIA, media‑compiled incident databases (e.g., The Trace or independent trackers cited in reporting), and local law‑enforcement and coroner records — then applying clear inclusion criteria (on‑duty agent shootings, off‑duty agent killings tied to agency role, detention deaths, etc.); the supplied sources point to short‑term figures and investigative leads but do not themselves supply the complete dataset needed [1] [2] [3].