What federal databases track line-of-duty deaths for immigration and customs officers, and how do they report 2025 figures?
Executive summary
Three types of public and quasi-public trackers cover deaths connected to U.S. immigration and customs work: agency-maintained memorials and line-of-duty pages (ICE’s Fallen Officers/Wall of Honor), national law‑enforcement memorial databases that enumerate government officer deaths (ODMP and the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund), and multiple CBP- and civil-society databases that record deaths of migrants in CBP custody or encounters (CBP’s Border Rescues & Mortality data plus trackers by groups like the ACLU of Texas and the Southern Border Communities Coalition) [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]. For 2025 figures, independent reporting and agency releases show a stark split in focus: ICE and advocacy groups report that at least 30–32 people died in ICE custody in 2025, while federal officer line‑of‑duty death compilations report far smaller counts of fallen ICE or CBP officers — underscoring that most of 2025’s mortality being reported relates to detained migrants, not officers killed on duty [6] [7] [8] [1] [2].
1. What federal and quasi‑federal databases exist and what they track
ICE publishes a Fallen Officers/End of Watch page that memorializes personnel who died in the line of duty and holds historical entries about agents’ on‑duty deaths and causes when available, which is the agency’s official record for its own officers [1]. The Officer Down Memorial Page (ODMP) maintains a searchable “U.S. Government law enforcement” category that aggregates line‑of‑duty deaths across federal agencies — including DHS components such as ICE, CBP, TSA and others — providing an independent, cumulative count of government law enforcement fatalities [2]. CBP’s official Border Rescues & Mortality data, produced to satisfy Congressional reporting requirements, tracks “alien deaths” under two sets of criteria and documents in‑custody and related incidents overseen by CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) [3]. Civil society trackers — notably the ACLU of Texas’s CBP Fatal Encounters tracker and compilations such as the Southern Border Communities Coalition list — supplement government numbers by cataloging reported fatal encounters with CBP personnel and migrants’ deaths, often using media reports and public records [4] [5].
2. How those databases reported 2025 figures: detainee deaths vs. officer deaths
Reporting by Reuters and other outlets summarizes ICE’s own figures that “at least 30 people died in ICE custody in 2025,” a tally various outlets refined to 32 in aggregated reporting; those counts refer to people detained by ICE who died, not to ICE officers killed in the line of duty [6] [7]. Advocacy groups such as Freedom for Immigrants likewise characterize 2025 as the deadliest year on record in ICE custody with “over 30 deaths,” often highlighting clusters and month‑by‑month spikes that mirror press and agency releases [8]. By contrast, federal officer line‑of‑duty trackers (ODMP and the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund summaries cited in reporting) show that overall law enforcement deaths in 2025 declined to near‑historic lows, and none of those headline statistics equate to large numbers of ICE or CBP officers killed in action — the public memorials and ODMP entries reflect isolated officer fatalities rather than the mass mortality seen among detainees [9] [2] [1].
3. Why counts differ and what to watch for when using each source
Differences flow from scope and definition: CBP’s mortality reports and civil‑society trackers enumerate deaths of migrants and “alien deaths” in various settings and use separate criteria, whereas ICE’s Fallen Officers and ODMP focus on personnel deaths in the line of duty [3] [1] [2]. Media aggregations (The Guardian, Reuters) synthesize agency press releases and advocacy counts, producing slightly different totals — for example, Reuters cites “at least 30” ICE‑custody deaths for 2025 while The Guardian’s investigative count reached 32 — reflecting timing, inclusion rules, and ongoing investigations into causes [6] [7]. Civil‑society trackers fill gaps in transparency but can include incidents documented only by local media; official databases may lag, with OPR and internal reviews sometimes changing classifications after investigation [3] [4].
4. Bottom line and limits of available public data
Public federal databases and reputable independent memorials allow reliable tracking of officer line‑of‑duty deaths for ICE/CBP personnel (ICE’s Fallen Officers; ODMP), while CBP’s own Border Rescues & Mortality reporting and third‑party trackers document migrant deaths and in‑custody fatalities [1] [2] [3] [4]. For 2025, multiple sources converge on the conclusion that dozens of people died while in ICE custody (agency and press counts putting the figure at roughly 30–32), even as national law‑enforcement death tallies show an overall decline in officers killed in the line of duty that year — an important distinction many summaries have blurred [6] [7] [9]. The record is limited by differing definitions, ongoing investigations, and the fact that not every death is immediately or uniformly classified across these databases, so final reconciled figures may change as reviews conclude [3] [6].