What are documented trends in ICE detention population and deaths in custody since 2019?
Executive summary
Since 2019 the picture of ICE detention shows two linked trends: a volatile detained population that plunged during the COVID-19 pandemic and then climbed sharply afterward, and a rise and fall — and most recently a sharp spike — in deaths in custody, with evidence that the mortality rate surged during COVID and again as detention numbers rose in 2024–2025 [1] [2] [3] [4].
1. Population collapse in 2020, steady climb after 2021
ICE’s publicly posted datasets and independent analyses document a dramatic drop in the number of people held in immigration detention at the height of the pandemic, reaching historic lows below 14,000 in early 2021, and then a steady rebound as public-health restrictions eased and enforcement priorities shifted [2] [5]. Multiple research groups conclude the rebound became a sustained expansion: Vera’s tracking shows populations climbed after the low point in 2021 [2], and TRAC’s retrospective found that detention numbers generally grew over the Biden presidency and ended at more than two and a half times the counts at the end of the prior administration [6]. ICE itself continues to publish searchable custody dashboards and year-end reports reflecting these changing counts [7] [5].
2. Concentration in particular facilities and geographic shifts
Independent data work shows ICE detention has long concentrated in a relatively small set of facilities, with the largest 20 sites holding the lion’s share of detained people on any given day — a pattern that persisted through the pandemic and its aftermath [6]. Vera and other trackers also note that ICE expanded its footprint in local jails in some states even as state prison populations fell, tripling civil immigration detention in local jails in certain jurisdictions during earlier years of the last decade [2].
3. Deaths: pandemic-era spike, dip, then a record surge in 2025
Deaths in custody rose sharply in FY2020 as COVID-19 swept through detention, with researchers documenting a seven-fold increase in the death rate between FY2019 and FY2020 even as the average daily population fell, signaling an outsized mortality risk during the pandemic period [1]. Official tallies and compiled lists show year-by-year counts: nine deaths in 2019, 18 in 2020, five in 2021, three in 2022, seven in 2023, and 11 in 2024 according to aggregated reporting [8]. Independent reporting and watchdog analyses indicate a striking jump in 2025 — at least 31–32 deaths — which outlets describe as the highest toll in two decades and attribute in part to rapid expansion of detention and reduced oversight [4] [3].
4. Causes, preventability, and accountability debates
Medical and advocacy studies argue many in-custody deaths were preventable and tied to inadequate medical care, with one review of 2017–2021 deaths concluding a high share could likely have been prevented with adequate care [9] [1]. Watchdogs warn that a decline in inspections and oversight as populations surged creates conditions that increase lethality, a claim backed by reporting that inspections plummeted even as detentions soared in 2025 [3]. ICE and DHS officials contest the narrative of systemic neglect, pointing to policies and medical corps meant to protect detainee health and asserting detainees receive proper meals and medical treatment [3] [7]. Observers also flag that public reporting styles and transparency have varied over administrations, affecting how deaths are described and documented [8].
5. What the data do and do not show
The available public data and independent compilations make clear that detention populations fell dramatically in 2020 then rose substantially thereafter, and that deaths spiked during COVID and again in 2025, producing the highest annual totals in decades [2] [1] [4] [3]. However, gaps remain: ICE’s dashboards and government reports provide aggregate counts and facility reports but differ in presentation over time, and independent trackers rely on FOIA-derived datasets and media reporting to reconcile totals [7] [5] [2] [6]. Where cause-of-death classifications, facility-level medical responses, or full inspection histories are absent from public releases, the sources do not permit definitive attribution of each death to specific failures — only patterns and correlations supported by the published records and watchdog investigations [1] [3] [9].