How many fatal shootings by ICE agents were recorded between 2015 and 2021 and how many resulted in deaths?
Executive summary
Public records obtained and reported by the investigative nonprofit The Trace show there were 59 shootings by ICE officers between 2015 and 2021 [1]. The material provided for this briefing does not include a definitive count, drawn from those same records, of how many of those 59 shootings resulted in deaths, and therefore a precise fatality tally for 2015–2021 cannot be confirmed from the supplied sources [1].
1. What the records say: 59 shootings by ICE officers, 2015–2021
A detailed public‑records-driven investigation published by The Trace found that ICE officers were involved in 59 separate shootings across 26 states and two U.S. territories during the period 2015–2021, a figure derived from documents obtained through litigation and review of agency records [1]. That total — repeatedly cited in contemporary reporting — is the clearest, single quantitative finding available in the supplied sources about ICE use of firearms during that seven‑year window [1].
2. What the records do not (clearly) say: the fatality breakdown is missing from supplied excerpts
The excerpts provided here from The Trace and other reporting establish the 59‑shooting tally but do not, in the material supplied, list a clear, audited count of how many of those shootings were fatal — that specific breakdown is not present in the snippets available for review [1]. Because the user question asks both how many shootings were recorded and how many resulted in deaths, it is essential to note that the available reporting confirms the total number of shootings but does not, in the documents and excerpts provided, offer an explicit numeric answer for fatalities tied to that 2015–2021 set [1].
3. Context and competing framings in the public record
Reporting since 2024 and 2025 has focused attention on deadly force by federal immigration agents, with journalists and advocacy groups compiling incident lists and emphasizing patterns — for example noting geographic spread, vehicle‑related shootings, and cases reassigned to local jurisdictions for investigation [1]. Other outlets and timelines in the supplied results cover later high‑profile fatal incidents in 2026 and wider debates about prosecutorial barriers and agency policies, but those pieces do not retroactively supply a definitive fatality count for the 2015–2021 dataset cited by The Trace [1] [2].
4. Why the fatality count may be hard to extract without full records
Agency reporting, multi‑agency investigations, and local law enforcement assumption of jurisdiction — all documented in the Trace reporting — complicate a simple tally: shootings recorded as “involving” ICE officers may be investigated or reported under other agencies’ case files, and public summaries sometimes omit or redact outcome details [1]. The supplied sources make clear that oversight and reporting practices vary and that The Trace’s 59‑shooting figure came from public records obtained through litigation, implying the fatality details may exist in the full dataset even if they are not present in the excerpts provided here [1].
5. Bottom line and next steps for a definitive answer
The best defensible answer from the supplied reporting: 59 shootings by ICE officers were recorded between 2015 and 2021 [1]. The precise number of those incidents that resulted in deaths is not specified in the provided excerpted material; obtaining the full Trace dataset, the underlying public records, or official ICE/DHS incident outcome logs would be necessary to produce a confirmed fatality count [1]. Alternative sources and follow‑up public‑records requests would resolve the remaining uncertainty and allow a straight numeric response to the death tally.