Where can one download ICE Detainee Death Reports for each year since 2015?
Executive summary
ICE publishes a downloadable set of formal "Detainee Death Reports" on its website covering deaths beginning with Fiscal Year 2018, alongside newsroom "Detainee Death Notifications" that appear as press releases [1] [2]. There is no single, official ICE-hosted repository documented in the provided reporting that offers the same style of detainee death reports for 2015–2017; researchers must therefore rely on aggregated lists, press releases, congressional disclosures and third‑party compilations for those years [1] [3] [4].
1. Where to download the official ICE Detainee Death Reports (FY2018–present)
The primary and authoritative location for the formal Detainee Death Reports is ICE’s own “Detainee Death Reporting” page on ice.gov, which the agency says contains individual reports beginning with Fiscal Year 2018 and links each detained‑alien death report for download in accordance with congressional requirements added in the DHS Appropriations Bill [1]. Complementing that page, ICE’s newsroom publishes “Detainee Death Notifications” and other news releases that provide initial agency accounts of deaths in custody and are available on ICE’s Newsroom page [2].
2. Why the ICE repository starts in FY2018 and what that means for earlier years
Congressional language in the DHS appropriations process in 2018 required ICE to make public reports about in‑custody deaths within specified timeframes, prompting ICE to post downloadable detainee death reports beginning in FY2018; the agency reiterates that obligation on its detainee death reporting page [1]. The reporting provided does not show an ICE‑maintained, identical set of downloadable "Detainee Death Reports" covering 2015–2017, which means those earlier years are not available in the same format on ICE’s site based on the sources reviewed [1] [3].
3. Best alternative sources for deaths in ICE custody before FY2018
For 2015–2017, public researchers should turn to compendia compiled by advocacy groups, legal organizations and journalists: the American Immigration Lawyers Association maintains a continually updated list of press releases and announcements about detention deaths (which can capture cases back to earlier years), and Wikipedia’s "List of deaths in ICE detention" aggregates government records and public reporting into a chronological list that fills gaps where ICE’s formal downloads do not exist in that period [4] [3]. These sources rely on government records, newsroom notices, and advocacy tracking rather than a single ICE download package for 2015–2017 [3] [4].
4. How to get more granular or missing documentation (FOIA, Inspector General, congressional letters)
When official ICE postings are incomplete for a given year, investigative routes include Freedom of Information Act requests to ICE/DHS, looking for DHS Office of Inspector General reviews (which have been triggered by custody deaths in recent years), and consulting congressional correspondence and oversight reports cited in media coverage; for example, congressional letters and OIG reviews have been discussed in reporting about detention deaths and agency transparency [4] [3]. News organizations and advocacy groups have used such records to compile timelines and autopsy details when ICE reporting was limited [5] [6].
5. Practical download strategy and caveats for researchers
Start at ICE’s Detainee Death Reporting page to download FY2018–present case PDFs and use the ICE Newsroom for timely notifications [1] [2]; for pre‑2018 cases or to corroborate discrepancies, supplement with AILA’s death announcements and the Wikipedia chronology, and if necessary submit FOIA requests or consult DHS OIG and congressional records to obtain underlying investigation documents and autopsies referenced in media reporting [4] [3] [7]. Note that watchdog reporting and subsequent autopsies (reported by outlets such as NPR, PBS and major newspapers) have sometimes contradicted or supplemented initial ICE accounts, underscoring the importance of cross‑checking [6] [8] [9].