Which databases track deaths and disappearances in immigration detention and how to access them?
Executive summary
A handful of government, academic and civil-society databases systematically record deaths (and, to a lesser extent, disappearances) tied to U.S. immigration detention: ICE’s official detainee-death reports, independent compilations such as the Wikipedia list and media timelines, academic analyses in peer‑reviewed journals, and advocacy datasets from groups like the ACLU, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) and the Missing Migrants Project; each is publicly accessible but has known gaps and differing scopes reporting" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">[1] [2] [3] [4] [5].
1. ICE’s official detainee‑death reports — the baseline government record
The Department of Homeland Security requires ICE to publish reports on in‑custody deaths and ICE posts a Detainee Death Reporting page that explains its 2021 policy for notification, review and reporting and provides agency reports and press releases; the page is the authoritative government source for deaths that ICE acknowledges occurred while people were in custody [1]. Access: the ICE website’s “Detainee Death Reporting” hub hosts individual death reports and summaries, and is the first place journalists and researchers check for agency‑released documents [1].
2. Independent compilations and media timelines — aggregation and context
Journalists and volunteers aggregate ICE reports and other sources into chronological lists and interactive timelines—examples include the Wikipedia “List of deaths in ICE detention” and The Guardian’s 2026 interactive timeline of the 32 deaths in 2025—which synthesize government records, reporting and family accounts to show patterns over time and fill in context that single agency reports do not always provide [2] [6]. Access: Wikipedia’s page is public and regularly updated; the Guardian project is available online as an interactive story and dataset snapshot [2] [6].
3. Civil‑society investigations and datasets — deeper reviews and downloadable reports
Advocacy organizations have produced detailed investigations and compiled datasets that interrogate causes, preventability and reporting compliance: the ACLU/PHR/American Oversight “Deadly Failures” report examines 52 deaths from 2017–2021 with document reviews and expert medical analysis and is available as a downloadable PDF; PHR’s resource pages and reports similarly call for full implementation of the Death in Custody Reporting Act and include data analysis and recommendations [4] [7] [8]. Access: these groups publish full reports and appendices on their websites, which often include case lists and links to source documents [4] [8].
4. Academic and public‑health studies — mortality metrics and peer review
Scholarly work quantifies death rates and causes; a peer‑reviewed study indexed on PubMed Central calculated death rates for FY2018–2020 and reported that since April 2018 thirty‑five individuals had died in ICE detention, using methods useful for epidemiological comparison [3]. Access: the PMC article is publicly accessible and provides methods and datasets that researchers can reproduce [3].
5. Global and disappearance‑focused platforms — missing migrants beyond detention
For disappearances and migration‑related deaths outside formal custody, international datasets like the IOM’s Missing Migrants Project collect cases of migrants who die or go missing en route and provide global, geocoded data; while not detention‑specific, it is essential for understanding deaths linked to migration pathways and enforced disappearance frameworks used by the UN Working Group [5] [9]. Access: the Missing Migrants Project offers an online data portal with downloadable CSVs and map visualizations [5].
6. Known limitations and why cross‑checking matters
All sources undercount or explain differently: ICE excludes people released shortly before death from some tallies and agency reporting has faced delays and legal challenges, prompting lawsuits and independent investigations; advocacy reports document cases ICE did not timely disclose and argue for systemic reporting failures, while academic studies flag rising death rates and preventable causes like COVID‑19 and suicide—meaning researchers must triangulate ICE reports, NGO datasets, media timelines and peer‑reviewed analyses to approach a fuller picture [8] [2] [3] [10]. Access strategy: start with ICE’s site for official reports, then download advocacy PDFs (ACLU/PHR), consult the Missing Migrants database for route‑related disappearances, and use Wikipedia/major media timelines for quick chronological cross‑reference, while citing peer‑reviewed literature for rates and methodologies [1] [7] [5] [2] [3].