Keep Factually independent
Whether you agree or disagree with our analysis, these conversations matter for democracy. We don't take money from political groups - even a $5 donation helps us keep it that way.
How many ICE agents have been attacked in the line of duty since 2020?
Executive Summary
Multiple claims assert dramatic increases in assaults on ICE officers since 2020—figures cited range from “more than 1,000%” to 830%, 690%, 500%, and 413%—but the available analyses show no publicly released, consolidated count of ICE agents attacked since 2020, and government agencies have not produced transparent raw incident totals to substantiate those headline percentages [1] [2] [3]. The reporting landscape is fragmented: some DHS/administration summaries and press accounts highlight steep percentage increases over short windows in 2024–2025, while investigative pieces and watchdog outlets find no clear evidence for the larger claims and note important definitional and reporting gaps [4] [2] [1].
1. The explosive claims—Who said what and how big the numbers looked
Public statements and subsequent media amplification presented very large percentage increases in assaults on ICE personnel: the White House or DHS-related briefings have been linked to claims of increases exceeding 1,000%, while departmental releases and press stories cited specific spikes like 830% (Jan 21–July 14, 2025) and 690% increases tied to shorter windows in 2024–2025 [1] [3] [4]. These claims are presented as headline-grabbing percentage changes rather than raw counts; outlets repeating the figures often framed them as evidence of a new wave of violence toward ICE officers, but the underlying data periods differ across claims and the dramatic percentages are drawn from comparisons over limited timeframes, not from a single, continuous dataset [3] [4].
2. The data that is publicly available—and what it actually says
Available reporting and analyses show some increase in reported assaults on ICE officers during discrete intervals: for example, DHS or related summaries reported 10 assault events between Jan 21 and June 30, 2024, and 79 events over an extended interval tied to a presidential term comparison, figures used to calculate a 690% uptick in one account [4]. Other departmental releases cited an 830% year-over-year rise between Jan 21 and July 14, 2025 versus the same window in 2024 [5] [3]. Independent reporting, however, highlights that raw counts behind larger multipliers are not uniformly published, leaving the public unable to reconcile percent changes with baseline totals or to verify whether increases reflect changes in reporting, definitions, or operational exposure rather than a uniform uptick in violent assaults [2].
3. Contradictions and scrutiny from investigative reporting
Investigative outlets and fact-checking pieces found no public evidence to support the most extreme claim—“more than 1,000%”—and reported that DHS declined to provide underlying data to back certain administration assertions [1] [2]. Analysts emphasize that some of the increases could be tied to operational changes—like more frequent street arrests—broader definitions of “assault,” or concentrated short-term spikes rather than a sustained multi-year trend [2]. Those skeptical pieces also note that ICE historical fatality data shows no agent killed by an immigrant in agency history and that leading officer deaths have been from COVID-19 and 9/11-related cancers, which complicates narratives of escalating lethal violence against agents [2].
4. Concrete incidents versus trend narratives—what examples tell us
Reporting includes discrete, reported episodes of violence or alleged attacks on ICE personnel—such as a cited Evanston, Illinois, incident involving alleged physical assault on officers—that serve as exemplars in narrative accounts but do not scale into a verified national count [6]. Coverage that highlights individual incidents tends to bolster claims of a growing threat and fuels political messaging, while investigative pieces caution that isolated episodes cannot substitute for comprehensive incident-level disclosure. The tension between anecdote-driven narratives and absent public totals illustrates how specific events can be amplified into claims of systemic escalation without the underlying, verifiable dataset [6] [2].
5. Where the gaps are—definitions, timeframes, and transparency problems
The central data gap is the lack of a consistent, publicly available dataset from DHS/ICE enumerating assaults on agents since 2020, with standardized definitions and incident-level details; without that, percentage claims are impossible to independently confirm [1] [2]. Reported percentage increases use varying baselines and time windows, and agencies have been reported as declining to supply underlying counts when pressed, raising transparency concerns. Analysts flag that changes in enforcement posture, reporting practices, or classification of what constitutes an “assault” could produce large percentage swings even when absolute numbers remain modest [1] [2].
6. Bottom line: what can be stated unequivocally and what remains unresolved
It is verifiable that multiple credible reports and DHS statements between 2024–2025 cite large percentage increases in assaults on ICE officers—figures of 690%, 830%, and similar magnitudes appear in official and media accounts—yet no consolidated, public count of ICE agents attacked since 2020 has been produced to substantiate the broader claims, and the most extreme figures, like “more than 1,000%,” are unsupported in available public records [4] [3] [1] [2]. The remaining unresolved questions—exact incident counts, consistent definitions, and how operational changes influence rates—require DHS/ICE to release incident-level data for independent verification before percentage claims can be reliably assessed [1] [2].