What is ICE’s official tally of in-custody deaths by year from 2017 through 2025?
Executive summary
ICE publicly confirmed that 2025 was the deadliest year for people in its custody in two decades, reporting roughly 31–32 deaths in that calendar year—far higher than recent years—and agency reporting practices (fiscal vs. calendar year) and differing third‑party tallies produce inconsistent year‑by‑year totals for 2017–2024 [1] [2] [3]. Available reporting confirms an aggregated total of 52 deaths across 2017–2021 identified by a medical‑review group, but the precise official ICE annual counts for each year 2017–2024 are not fully listed in the provided sources and require consulting ICE’s detainee‑death reporting archive for definitive yearly tallies [4] [5].
1. 2025: a confirmed spike, ICE’s own notices and multiple outlets converge
Multiple outlets using ICE notices and the agency’s reporting concluded that 2025 produced the highest toll in custody since 2004, with reports citing 32 deaths (The Guardian; Project On Government Oversight) and other data summaries noting “at least 30” or 31 depending on counting conventions—ICE itself posts individual detainee death notices throughout the year and described the year as a two‑decade high [1] [3] [2] [6].
2. Why exact year‑by‑year numbers disagree: fiscal vs. calendar year and definitional gaps
ICE reports detainee deaths both on a newsroom/notice basis and by fiscal year (October–September), while third‑party charts often compile calendar‑year figures; Statista warns that ICE’s fiscal‑year reporting and definition of “in custody” can yield lower counts than other trackers, producing discrepancies for years prior to and including 2025 [2]. The agency’s Detainee Death Reporting policy lays out notification timelines and procedures but does not, in the excerpts provided, deliver a simple downloadable table of annual totals for 2017–2025 [5].
3. 2017–2021: aggregated findings from medical‑review and advocacy reports
A 2024 review cited in advocacy reporting examined 52 deaths in ICE custody from 2017 through 2021 and concluded most were preventable or possibly preventable with appropriate medical care, giving a multi‑year aggregate though not an annual breakdown in the sources given here [4] [7]. That 52‑death aggregate is useful for broad trend analysis but does not substitute for ICE’s year‑specific tallies, which must account for reporting definitions and post‑custody hospital deaths still recorded as “in custody” in some instances [4] [1].
4. 2022–2024: available reporting signals lower counts but not a definitive series
Multiple investigative pieces and watchdogs state that 2025’s total was “nearly three times” the number of deaths in 2024, implying 2024 deaths were in the low double digits [3], and congressional statements note that the first half of 2025 alone equaled or exceeded some recent full‑year totals [8]. However, the precise official annual counts for 2017–2024 are not enumerated in the provided documents, and competing trackers (ICE notices, AILA aggregations, media databases, and Wikipedia compilations) sometimes list different totals because of inclusion rules and timing [9] [10] [2].
5. What the reporting implies and where to find definitive year‑by‑year counts
The best available path to an authoritative, year‑by‑year official tally is ICE’s own Detainee Death Reporting page and the agency’s newsroom notices, which itemize individual deaths and are governed by the 2021 Notification, Review, and Reporting Requirements for Detainee Deaths—yet the excerpts provided do not include a single consolidated table from 2017 through 2025 [5]. Given the consistent journalistic reporting that 2025 saw roughly 31–32 deaths and aggregated third‑party work showing 52 deaths from 2017–2021, the reporting confirms a clear upward trend culminating in 2025 but cannot produce a definitive, source‑verified list of annual counts for every year from 2017–2024 without direct access to ICE’s full archive or FOIA‑compiled datasets [1] [4] [2].