How many deaths with illegals in Biden years

1. ICE custody deaths: a clear—but limited—metric

ICE and multiple reporters tracked detainee deaths and, in the sources provided, the Biden administration saw 26 deaths in ICE custody across its four years in office; advocacy outlets and later news comparisons use that 26‑death figure to contrast with higher or lower tallies under other administrations ^[1][2]. Reporting also notes fiscal‑year spikes—for example, fiscal year 2024 was described as the deadliest under Biden with 12 deaths that year counted toward the total—but the 26 figure is the consolidated number cited by watchdogs and reporters in the supplied material ^[2].

2. Border deaths: multiple signals, no single official total in sources

Independent advocacy groups and investigative outlets reported that migrant deaths and disappearances along the southern border surged under Biden and reached new highs, with some reporters describing more bodies recovered in recent months than in any prior full year, but these pieces do not produce one universally accepted total for all border‑related deaths during Biden’s term in the supplied documents ^[3]. Fact‑checking and explanatory pieces note the politically fraught context—different actors emphasize different metrics (deaths recovered, missing persons, drownings, heat exposure)—and the reporting here does not offer a definitive, government‑compiled aggregate of all border deaths across 2021–2024 ^[4][3].

3. Context and comparisons: why numbers vary and who uses them

Counting “deaths with illegals” can mean several different things—deaths in federal immigration detention, deaths during interdiction and transport, and deaths recorded in the borderlands during migration attempts—and sources focus selectively depending on the speaker’s agenda; congressional Republicans and some administration critics foreground large encounter totals and humanitarian claims to criticize policy, while immigrant‑rights outlets emphasize the human toll and policy drivers that push migrants into dangerous routes ^[5][6][3]. Complicating comparisons, later reporting about 2025 detention deaths shows numbers rising under a subsequent administration (31–32 deaths in 2025), which advocates use to argue detention itself is dangerous and politicized ^[1][7].

4. Limits of available reporting and necessary caveats

The supplied reporting gives a clear figure for ICE custody deaths during Biden’s presidency , and multiple outlets corroborate that number in context ^[1][2], but it does not provide a single, source‑verified total for all migrant deaths linked to border crossings or other “illegal” migration over the Biden years; advocacy groups and investigative reporters report sharp increases and “record highs” for border‑related recoveries and disappearances, yet those claims in the materials here are not synthesized into one government‑issued death toll that can be cited with equal authority ^[3][4]. Thus, while ICE‑custody deaths can be stated confidently from the cited sources, any claim of a precise total of all deaths “with illegals” during the Biden years would exceed what these documents explicitly support.

5. Bottom line

From the provided reporting, the defensible, directly sourced answer is: 26 deaths in ICE custody during Biden’s four years in office ^[1][2]. Reports and advocacy groups also say migrant deaths along the border surged and reached unprecedented levels in parts of the administration, but the supplied sources do not include a single, authoritative aggregate number for all border‑related migrant deaths over the Biden term ^[3][4]. Readers should distinguish the narrowly defined, documented custody deaths from broader and more contested counts of fatalities in transit or the borderlands, and treat politically sourced encounter or casualty claims with scrutiny about methodology and intent ^[5][8].