How many people has ice shot
Executive summary
Multiple news organizations and trackers report that federal immigration agents have fired on civilians repeatedly during the current enforcement surge, but counts vary by outlet and date: The Trace’s compilation cited by The Guardian shows 16 distinct shootings as of early January 2026 [1], while local analyses reported at least 19 incidents in the same window [2]; those incidents have been credited with between four and five deaths and at least seven to eight injuries depending on the dataset [3] [2]. All outlets and datasets warn the numbers are provisional and likely undercount events that are not always publicly reported [4] [5].
1. Official tallies and independent trackers do not agree
Independent trackers such as The Trace, whose numbers were summarized by The Guardian, counted 16 shootings by federal immigration agents as of January 9, 2026 [1], while local news analyses and Get the Facts teams using similar datasets reported at least 19 separate shooting incidents during the same enforcement period [2]. The Trace-based Get the Facts analysis said the 16 shooting incidents produced four deaths and at least seven injuries [3], whereas a separate compilation cited by WBAL put the toll at five killed and at least eight wounded across at least 19 incidents [2], illustrating a clear discrepancy driven by differing inclusion rules, cut‑off dates and source selection.
2. Recent high-profile cases anchor the totals but don’t explain them
The Jan. 7 Minneapolis killing of Renee Good by an ICE officer has become the focal point for many of these counts—local incident reports and emergency dispatch transcripts describe shots fired into a vehicle and the subsequent fatality [6]—and was explicitly included in the trackers’ totals [1]. Other contemporaneous shootings, including incidents in Portland and a separate fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis, have been folded into the same datasets as related federal‑enforcement shooting incidents [7] [8] [9], which complicates attribution when multiple agencies (ICE, CBP/Border Patrol, other DHS components) are operating together.
3. What the numbers actually measure — and what they omit
The publicly reported counts are built from news reports, nonprofit databases and local records and therefore capture “at least” the listed incidents; The Trace itself acknowledged its totals are likely an undercount because shootings involving immigration agents are not always publicly reported or may be characterized differently by agencies [4]. Some compilations include only incidents where shots were fired, while others add brandishing and instances where agents held civilians at gunpoint—Get the Facts noted dozens of additional incidents where agents pointed guns but did not fire [2] [3]. Wikipedia and other crowd-sourced lists also vary depending on whether they count all DHS immigration agents or distinguish CBP from ICE [10].
4. Competing narratives and institutional incentives shape the reported picture
Federal officials have framed these events as a response to a surge in assaults and vehicular attacks against officers, pointing to DHS statistics that claim large year‑over‑year increases in reported assaults on immigration personnel [11], while critics and civil‑liberties lawyers tell a different story of unnecessary and dangerous uses of force that could be reduced through de‑escalation [4] [5]. Media outlets and political leaders have also amplified different angles—the fatalities are used by opponents of the enforcement surge to condemn tactics [1] [5], while some federal statements emphasize officer safety and violent threats to justify operations [12] [11]—an implicit agenda that helps explain why counts and descriptions diverge.
5. Bottom line: a range, not a single definitive number
Based on the contemporaneous reporting and independent trackers provided, the best available characterization is that federal immigration agents fired on civilians in at least 16 to 19 separate incidents during the enforcement surge through early January 2026, with those incidents associated with approximately four to five deaths and at least seven to eight injuries, while dozens more encounters involved guns being pointed but not fired [1] [3] [2]. These figures are provisional, vary by source and date, and almost certainly undercount events that were not publicly documented or that involve mixed agency responses where attribution is unclear [4] [10].