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How many people have been killed by ICE agents in the line of duty?
Executive summary
Available reporting and official ICE records compiled in recent coverage indicate very few ICE agents have been killed in the line of duty during the agency’s history; notable named line-of-duty deaths include Special Agent Jaime Zapata (killed in Mexico, 2011) and earlier off-duty or non-immigrant-related deaths such as David Wilhelm [1] and victims of 9/11-related illnesses, while ICE’s own fallen-officer list documents multiple deaths linked to post-9/11 recovery cancer [2] [3] [4]. Major outlets and ICE’s published “fallen officers” page do not provide a simple, single-number total in the material provided here — available sources do not mention a definitive aggregate figure [3] [4] [2].
1. What the official ICE fallen-officer page shows — deaths, not a single tally
ICE’s public “ICE Fallen Officers” page lists individual agents and describes causes such as cancers linked to World Trade Center recovery work and other service-related deaths; the page supplies names and circumstances (for example, Special Agent Edward J. Smith and others who died of 9/11-related cancers) but the material provided does not present a single total count of agents killed in the line of duty [3]. Because ICE frames many entries as death notices with cause explanations, researchers must compile the list entry-by-entry to reach a full tally; that aggregate number is not explicit in the cited ICE document [3].
2. High-profile line-of-duty killings are rare and widely reported
Reporting highlights a handful of high-profile cases across ICE history rather than frequent combat-style fatalities. The agency’s release on Special Agent Jaime Zapata notes he was “shot and killed in the line of duty” while traveling in Mexico in 2011; that remains one of the most cited on-duty homicide incidents [2]. Mother Jones’ review of ICE records emphasized that in recent decades immigrant-perpetrated agent homicides within U.S. operations are unusual and that leading kill causes for ICE personnel have included COVID-19 and 9/11-related cancers rather than battlefield-style ambushes [4].
3. Media and advocacy coverage show different emphases — operational deaths vs. cause-of-death categories
Mainstream coverage (Mother Jones) framed ICE officer mortality around occupational health outcomes — COVID-19 and 9/11-related cancers — and noted a scarcity of cases where an immigrant killed an ICE agent in recent agency history [4]. Official ICE postings concentrate on commemorating fallen personnel with descriptions of cause and context [3]. These emphases create different public impressions: one angle highlights rare, violent line-of-duty homicides; the other highlights service-related illness as a leading cause of death among ICE employees [4] [3].
4. Recent use-of-force controversies complicate the question of ICE fatalities
Recent reporting in 2025 documents several shootings involving ICE agents — including agents firing at vehicles and at least one fatal shooting into a vehicle in Chicago reported by outlets — but those stories concern civilians and detention-center incidents rather than ICE agents being killed [5] [6] [7]. Coverage of multiple 2025 use-of-force events and investigations shows heightened attention to ICE’s operational tactics and civilian casualties, not to a surge in line-of-duty agent deaths [5] [6] [7].
5. Conflicting claims and data gaps — no single authoritative total in these sources
Some commentary and advocacy pieces discuss agent assaults and threats rising dramatically, with DHS issuing figures about increased threats; other outlets have pushed back on the scale of those increases. But none of the provided sources supplies a definitive aggregate number of ICE agents killed in the line of duty across the agency’s history — available sources do not mention a definitive aggregate figure [8] [9]. Researchers must therefore rely on ICE’s fallen-officer list and compile entries to produce a precise historical total [3].
6. How to get a precise, verifiable answer
To establish an exact count you should: (a) consult ICE’s official fallen-officer roster (which lists individual entries and causes) and tally entries defined as “killed in the line of duty,” (b) cross-check with contemporaneous ICE press releases (for cases such as Jaime Zapata) and independent reporting to confirm classification, and (c) note that some deaths (e.g., illness from 9/11 recovery work) are service-related but may be recorded differently than combat-style homicides [3] [2] [4].
Limitations: the sources provided include ICE’s fallen-officer notices and multiple news stories that describe specific deaths or controversies, but they do not present a single, up-to-date numeric total of ICE agents killed in the line of duty — therefore this summary identifies documented cases and reporting patterns rather than asserting a definitive numeric answer [3] [2] [4].