How many deaths have occurred in ICE custody since 2003 and how are they documented?
Executive summary
The number of people who have died while in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody since ICE’s formation in 2003 is not a single, undisputed figure: government FOIA lists and agency reporting provide one baseline, while independent advocates and medical-review reports produce higher totals because they include deaths that ICE did not always count or fully document (examples: ICE FOIA lists 2003–2017, Freedom for Immigrants reported 169 deaths through May 2017, and ACLU/PHR highlight different tallies) [1] [2] [3] [4]. Documentation practices are formalized in ICE reporting rules and Congressional appropriations language, but watchdogs say those mechanisms have left gaps, inconsistencies, and cases labeled “released prior to death” out of public tallies [5] [6] [3].
1. Official lists and agency-published totals: what ICE provides
ICE has published FOIA-derived lists of detainee deaths covering October 2003 through later years — documents that enumerate individual names, dates and locations of death, and causes when available — and those FOIA lists serve as the baseline official record for multiple reporting periods [1] [7]. For deaths from Fiscal Year 2018 onward ICE says it will post individual detainee death reports and has stated statutory obligations to make these reports public within specified time frames, with ICE guidance describing multilayered reporting and notification requirements after a detainee death [6] [1].
2. Independent counts diverge: higher totals and “hidden” deaths
Independent organizations have produced higher cumulative totals than some official tallies, because they search public records, court filings, local death certificates, and other sources and sometimes include deaths of people who were in ICE custody but were released shortly before dying. For example, Freedom for Immigrants compiled an interactive map and reported 169 deaths in immigration detention between 2003 and May 2017, and the ACLU/PHR analysis discussed roughly 107 deaths counted since 2003 while also documenting omitted cases and other reporting gaps [2] [3]. For the 2017–2021 window, ACLU/PHR and partners examined documents related to 52 deaths in depth and noted ICE reported 68 deaths in that broader period — illustrating how different methodologies produce different totals [4].
3. How deaths are documented under law and ICE policy
Current legal and appropriations language requires ICE to publish initial information about an in-custody death within statutory timeframes (legal commentary cites 30–60 days historically and later appropriations tying public report deadlines to 90 days), and ICE maintains policies requiring local reporting, notification, and multi-office reviews including ICE Health Service Corps and oversight offices [5] [6]. ICE’s public-facing death pages and FOIA library are the primary official channels where those reports and past detainee-death-review documents are posted [6] [1].
4. Why counts differ — methodology, definitions, and omissions
Differences in totals flow from definitional choices (whether to count people released shortly before death, or those who died after transfer to a hospital while still under ICE custody), incomplete disclosures, and instances where ICE investigations or records were not produced in response to FOIA requests; advocates and journalists have documented cases where internal files suggested deaths were omitted or categorized in ways that removed them from public tallies [3] [4] [8]. The ACLU and other groups allege systemic failures in oversight and say ICE sometimes released people from custody before their deaths, a practice that complicates official counting [3] [4].
5. Independent reviews on causes and preventability
Medical and human-rights reviews — including the ACLU/PHR report and other NGO analyses — have examined subsets of deaths and concluded that a large share could likely have been prevented with adequate medical care, highlighting patterns of delay, poor documentation, and insufficient oversight across facilities; these reports rely on FOIA-obtained records, local agency files, and litigation documents to reach those conclusions [9] [4] [2].
Bottom line: a range, not a single sealed number
The best way to state the documented count is as a range tied to methodology: ICE’s FOIA-based lists and post‑2018 reporting provide the formal baseline (see ICE FOIA lists 2003–2017 and ICE detainee-death reporting pages) [1] [6], while independent compilations report substantially more — e.g., 169 deaths through May 2017 (Freedom for Immigrants) and analyses by ACLU/PHR that document dozens of deaths and flag omitted cases [2] [3] [4]. Any definitive single total requires choosing which compilation and definitions to accept; reporting and NGO investigations make clear that official counts understate the scope according to their methodologies and that documentation practices and legal timelines exist but have not prevented persistent gaps [3] [6] [4].