How many people have died due to ICE in 2026?
Executive summary
As of late January–early February 2026, publicly available reporting and trackers show at least six people have died while in ICE custody in 2026; that figure is the conservative, documented minimum reported by multiple mainstream outlets and public compilations [1] [2]. Advocacy groups and independent trackers produce higher, broader tallies when they include Border Patrol incidents, earlier months of 2025 that carry into trend counts, or cases under active review, making any single total provisional and likely to rise as investigations unfold [3] [4].
1. The immediate count: what mainstream reporting documents
National and wire reporting compiled in late January states that at least six deaths occurred in ICE detention centers since the start of 2026, a number repeated across Reuters and corroborated by public lists such as the Wikipedia compilation of ICE detention deaths [1] [2]. Those six deaths follow a record surge in 2025 — when outlets like The Guardian and Axios documented roughly 31–32 deaths in ICE custody last year — and were reported amid intense scrutiny of expanded detention operations and new, large-scale sites [5] [6].
2. Advocacy trackers and broader tallies that complicate the headline number
Independent trackers and advocacy outlets frame higher totals by widening scope: the American Prospect’s running list and publications such as The Appeal count deaths across immigration enforcement contexts (including Border Patrol and detention centers) and reported 35 deaths between mid‑2025 and early February 2026 — a figure that overlaps but does not equal the conservative ICE-only count for 2026 [3] [4]. These trackers explicitly note their tallies are minimums because they rely on what authorities disclose and what reaches news coverage, and they often include deaths occurring shortly before or after custody transfers, which official reports sometimes handle differently [3].
3. Why counts differ: definitions, disclosure rules and agency practices
Disagreement stems from definitional and reporting practices: ICE’s formal detainee‑death reporting process is governed by internal policies that produce official releases and delayed investigatory reports, while families, lawyers and advocates may discover or allege additional cases that haven’t been publicly posted as ICE “in‑custody” deaths [7] [8]. Congressional letters and watchdogs have criticized gaps in transparency and inconsistent notification, which means media and advocacy tallies sometimes diverge from the agency’s public list [9] [8].
4. The political and advocacy context shaping narratives
Numbers are contested in a politicized climate: advocates and human‑rights organizations emphasize structural causes and argue deaths are evidence of deteriorating conditions as detention swelled under the current administration, while some official statements from DHS and ICE focus on procedural reviews and medical circumstances surrounding specific cases [10] [7]. Media outlets vary between straight aggregation of disclosed deaths and investigative pieces that interrogate whether official explanations — for example, classifying a death as suicide versus homicide — are sufficient, underscoring the potential for later revisions [1] [5].
5. The transparent answer, with caveats
The direct, supportable answer is: at least six people have died in ICE custody in 2026 according to mainstream reporting and public compilations as of late January–early February 2026 [1] [2]. That figure is a documented minimum; broader trackers report larger cumulative tolls when including Border Patrol deaths or extending the window into mid‑2025 and counting cases still under investigation, and reporting is likely to change as autopsy findings and agency disclosures are completed [3] [4].
6. What to watch next
Expect the official tally and public narratives to evolve: Congressional inquiries, medical examiner rulings, and ICE’s statutorily required death reports (and their timelines) will all affect future counts and classifications, and advocacy groups will continue publishing parallel lists that may diverge from ICE’s official numbers — all reasons to treat the “at least six” number as the current, verifiable minimum rather than a final, closed total [7] [9].