How do counts of shootings by ICE compare with Border Patrol/CBP shooting incidents during 2025–2026?
Executive summary
Reported shootings by federal immigration agents since the start of the second Trump administration through early 2026 have involved both ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and CBP/Border Patrol, with the available reporting showing more high‑profile and numerous incidents attributed to Border Patrol/CBP than to ICE — but reliable, agency‑separated tallies are incomplete and often contested [1] [2] Portland,Oregon" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">[3]. Multiple outlets note that many incidents occurred during combined operations or in contexts where it is unclear which agency’s officer fired, which limits any definitive numerical split between ICE and Border Patrol shootings [1] [4].
1. Patterns in the published counts: Border Patrol/CBP dominate the news cycle
National reporting and incident lists compiled by news organizations and open‑source projects show a string of Border Patrol/CBP shootings across 2025–2026, including the January 2026 Arizona shooting of a human‑trafficking suspect and the Portland clinic shooting, both publicly reported as Border Patrol incidents, and the Minneapolis fatality also linked to Border Patrol in some accounts — together producing more front‑page examples attributed to CBP than to ICE in this period [5] [3] [4].
2. ICE shootings are fewer in number in these accounts but still high‑impact
ICE’s use of deadly force drew intense scrutiny after the killing of Renée Good in Minneapolis and other incidents noted by investigative outlets; those cases have galvanized protests and political debate despite being numerically fewer in the reporting sample than Border Patrol shootings, and ICE custody deaths also rose in 2025–2026, underscoring the broader toll of enforcement actions beyond on‑scene shootings [2] [6] [7].
3. Aggregated compilations point to substantial overall use of force but unclear agency breakdowns
A crowd‑compiled list cited in public sources counted “at least 30 shootings by immigration agents since January 20, 2025,” but that compilation groups ICE and CBP together and explicitly warns that in many multi‑agency deployments it is not known which individual agency member fired, limiting the reliability of a clean ICE vs Border Patrol split [1]. Independent investigations and outlets like The Trace and The Marshall Project have counted “more than a dozen” federal immigration‑agent shootings, again often grouping agencies or noting ambiguity about who fired [8].
4. Administration responses and internal classifications complicate counting
Officials in the current administration have publicly defended many incidents, with aides asserting justification in dozens of DHS shootings even before full probes were completed, a posture that affects public perception and the official labeling of incidents as justified or unjustified but does not replace transparent, disaggregated data about which agency’s officers were involved [9]. That rush to judgment can obscure distinctions between ICE and CBP responsibility when multiple agencies operate together [4].
5. What the data cannot tell with confidence from available reporting
While reporting shows more high‑profile shootings attributed to Border Patrol/CBP, none of the provided sources offers an authoritative, agency‑by‑agency tally for all of 2025–2026; Wikipedia’s crowd‑sourced compilation and news investigations are valuable but note limits — many operations involve both ICE and Border Patrol and records do not always identify the shooter by agency — so any firm numeric comparison beyond “Border Patrol/CBP figures more prominently in reports” would exceed what the sources support [1] [3].
6. Bottom line and implications
The balance of reporting through early 2026 indicates that Border Patrol/CBP shootings outnumber ICE shootings in visible, high‑profile cases and incident compilations, but the precise split is indeterminate because of combined operations, inconsistent public disclosures, and competing narratives from agencies and critics [5] [1] [9]. That uncertainty matters: policymaking, oversight, and accountability depend on transparent, disaggregated data from DHS and independent investigations to move from impression and headline counts to definitive agency‑level totals [1] [9].