How many people died because of ICE under Biden
Executive summary
Official and watchdog reporting indicates at least 26 people died while in ICE custody over the four years of the Biden administration, with 12 deaths recorded in fiscal year 2024; reporting practices, lags, and differing tallies mean that exact attribution and totals are contested and subject to revision [1] [2]. Independent trackers, advocates and government records show the death count rose sharply again under the subsequent administration, underscoring how totals depend on definitions, fiscal vs. calendar years, and the timing of disclosures [3] [4].
1. The raw number most often cited: 26 deaths during Biden’s four years
Several advocacy groups and members of Congress cited a total of “at least 26 people” who died in ICE custody over the four years of the Biden presidency, a figure used by Freedom for Immigrants and referenced in congressional correspondence criticizing detention conditions and oversight during that period [1]. That figure appears to be the baseline for public criticism of the Biden years and is the clearest single-number answer available in the provided reporting, but it is not the final word: agency and external tallies sometimes diverge.
2. Fiscal-year and calendar-year differences complicate the count
Tracing deaths by fiscal year versus calendar year changes the picture: fiscal year 2024 alone recorded 12 deaths, which advocates and some outlets have emphasized as more than double the year before and higher than the “typical” totals reported earlier in the decade [2]. ICE’s own public reporting cadence and the DHS requirement to post in-custody death reports within 90 days create potential timing gaps; journalists and watchdogs have repeatedly noted delayed or incomplete disclosures that make apples-to-apples comparisons between administrations difficult [4] [5].
3. Causes, locations and disputed responsibility
The fatalities recorded during the period spanned medical causes such as heart failure, seizures, respiratory illness, tuberculosis and suicide, and occurred both inside detention centers and in hospitals while individuals remained under ICE custody — details that ICE press releases and journalistic reconstructions provide but do not resolve into a single causal judgment about agency responsibility [3] [6]. Advocacy organizations and some family lawyers argue many deaths were preventable and attributable to systemic neglect, while DHS and ICE officials have defended detainee medical care as “comprehensive,” illustrating the political and factual dispute around what “died because of ICE” means [3] [1].
4. Why the number is contested and why comparisons can mislead
Multiple reporting threads warn that comparisons across administrations are fraught: detention populations rose and fell, reporting practices shifted, and an increase in detentions tends to produce more deaths simply as a function of scale — a point analysts have made when noting the surge in deaths in 2025 and early 2026 as detention numbers spiked [7] [3]. Watchdogs also document underreporting or delayed reporting that can make official tallies understate mortality; the ACLU has litigated over disclosure of deaths and advocates maintain independent lists that sometimes differ from ICE’s public count [4] [8].
5. Bottom line and limits of the record
The most defensible, sourced answer in the material provided is that at least 26 people died in ICE custody over the course of the Biden administration, with 12 deaths reported in FY2024, but the total is shaped by reporting definitions, delayed disclosures, and disputes over preventability and agency responsibility — factors that mean any single-number summary must be treated as provisional and context-dependent [1] [2] [4]. The reporting supplied does not settle every contested case or assign legal causation for each death; it does show a pattern of concern documented by advocates, journalists and some members of Congress [5] [1].