How many people died in ICE custody during the Trump administration, and how are those deaths categorized?
Executive summary
From the record assembled by researchers and advocacy groups, 52 people whom ICE reported as dying in custody between Jan. 1, 2017 and Dec. 31, 2021 are the baseline figure most independent investigators use for the first Trump administration, and independent reviewers judged the vast majority of those deaths preventable or possibly preventable [1] [2]. In the second Trump presidency (beginning 2025) advocates and media documented a sharp resurgence in detainee fatalities — multiple sources report dozens of deaths in 2025 alone, with counts ranging from 23 in a single fiscal year to agency tallies approaching the mid‑30s — highlighting both a numerical surge and continuing disagreement over classification and reporting [3] [4] [5].
1. How many died, 2017–2021: the independent count and what it represents
A June 2024 joint report by the ACLU, Physicians for Human Rights and American Oversight reviewed ICE records and related documents and examined 52 deaths that ICE itself had reported as occurring in custody between 2017 and 2021; that figure has become the standard reference point for the first Trump administration period because it relies on ICE‑released death reports and FOIA material compiled by researchers [1] [6]. Physicians for Human Rights’ independent review reached the same 52‑death dataset and concluded most were preventable or possibly preventable, a conclusion repeated in media summaries of the report [2] [1].
2. The post‑2024 surge: deaths during the second Trump administration and fiscal‑year tallies
Separate reporting covering the January–December 2025 period shows a dramatic rise in deaths after the second Trump administration expanded detention: the American Immigration Council noted 23 reported deaths in one fiscal year and contemporaneous media and watchdog accounts put total 2025 detainee deaths as high as the low 30s, with some outlets reporting 32 official detainee deaths by year’s end [3] [4] [5]. Coverage in early 2026 described the spike as a 20‑year high and documented additional deaths in the first weeks of 2026, underscoring the renewed scale of mortality after detentions surged [7] [8].
3. How deaths are categorized by investigators and advocates
The ACLU/PHR/American Oversight review did not simply count deaths; it applied clinical reviews and adjudicated preventability, finding roughly 95 percent of the 52 deaths from 2017–2021 were preventable or possibly preventable with appropriate care — a medical‑classification approach that contrasts with plain tallies and signals systemic medical and custodial failures rather than isolated acts [1] [2]. Government release notices and media summaries, by contrast, often emphasize causes such as infections, COVID‑19, injuries, uncontrolled diabetes and suicide — factual cause categories ICE uses in its public statements and in reporting compiled by news outlets [4].
4. Reporting practices, definitions and disputed exclusions
Scholars and civil‑liberties groups raise two procedural caveats: first, ICE’s public reporting style and timing have varied (narrative press releases using euphemisms like “passes away” have replaced more detailed death‑report templates in some periods), and second, critics allege ICE sometimes transfers or releases detainees shortly before death in ways that can exclude those cases from official custody death tallies — practices that complicate both counts and categorization [9]. Congressional and NGO oversight has repeatedly flagged gaps and opacity in ICE’s death reporting, and courts and watchdogs continue to press for fuller access to records [9] [10].
5. What the numbers mean — interpretation and competing narratives
Numbers alone understate the debate: advocates frame the 52‑death finding and the later 2025 spike as evidence of systemic medical neglect and policy choices that increased detention and risk [1] [4], while available agency materials emphasize discrete medical causes and have defended the agency’s response in individual cases even as they shifted reporting tone [9]. Independent medical review, congressional inquiries and continuing FOIA‑based investigations remain the best sources to reconcile raw death counts with preventability classifications; public reporting to date documents both a clear baseline (52 deaths in 2017–2021 per the 2024 study) and a troubling rise in 2025 that produced substantially more reported deaths [1] [3].