How many citizens were killed by the federal government under Biden
Executive summary
Available reporting does not produce a single, verifiable tally of U.S. citizens killed directly by the federal government during Joe Biden’s presidency; however, key facts can be stated with confidence: the Biden administration imposed a moratorium on federal executions and commuted 37 federal death sentences, meaning there were no federal executions carried out under Biden in that period as reported, while isolated fatal shootings by federal law-enforcement agents have occurred and drawn intense scrutiny [1] [2] [3].
1. What “killed by the federal government” can mean — executions versus law‑enforcement killings
The phrase can refer to two distinct categories: legal, state‑authorized capital punishment carried out by the federal government, and lethal uses of force by federal agents (for example, FBI, Homeland Security, ICE, or other federal law‑enforcement officers) in the field; reporting supplied here separates those clearly — Biden halted federal executions and commuted sentences, while individual deaths in interactions with federal agents are documented as separate incidents that require case‑by‑case accounting [1] [2] [4].
2. Federal executions: commutations and moratorium — effectively zero carried out under Biden
President Biden campaigned against the death penalty, directed the Justice Department to impose a moratorium on federal executions, and on December 23, 2024 commuted the sentences of 37 of the roughly 40 people on federal death row, switching their penalties to life without parole; major outlets reported that move and noted those commutations stopped federal executions that otherwise might have occurred [1] [2]. Given those acts, the reporting here supports the direct conclusion that the federal government did not execute prisoners under Biden during the period covered by these sources [1].
3. Federal agents’ killings: documented incidents but no comprehensive count in the provided material
News reports cite high‑profile fatal shootings by federal immigration agents and other federal personnel — for example, the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis that provoked national protests and presidential comment — and The Guardian and PBS chronicled multiple deaths involving ICE or federal agents in 2026; these are documented instances of U.S. citizens killed during encounters with federal actors, but the supplied reporting does not offer a complete, administration‑wide aggregate number of such deaths [3] [4] [5].
4. Examples reporters highlight — are they “killed by the federal government” or by foreign forces?
Some widely circulated stories conflate different actors: Newsweek and Jacobin highlighted the deaths of U.S. citizens in the West Bank — cases in which American citizens were shot by Israeli soldiers — and criticized the Biden administration’s response; those deaths were caused by foreign security forces, not by the U.S. federal government, though lawmakers demanded U.S. pressure and accountability [6] [7]. It is essential to distinguish U.S. government actions from foreign‑actor killings when answering how many citizens were killed by the federal government under Biden [6] [7].
5. Political context, competing narratives, and limits of the record
Republican lawmakers and advocacy materials frame migrant‑related violent crimes and deaths as attributable to Biden administration policies, while Democratic officials emphasize oversight and investigations into federal agents’ conduct — these are political arguments that shape coverage but do not substitute for a comprehensive fatality count [8] [9] [10]. The sources here include detailed reporting on particular incidents and policy moves (commutations/moratorium) but do not provide a single authoritative database tallying every U.S. citizen who died as a result of federal actions during the Biden presidency; therefore any numeric claim beyond the documented absence of federal executions would exceed what these sources substantiate [1] [3] [4].
6. Bottom line — the precise answer the public seeks
Based on the provided reporting, the federal government under President Biden did not carry out federal executions (Biden issued a moratorium and commuted 37 federal death sentences), and there are documented, high‑profile cases of U.S. citizens killed in encounters with federal agents that have prompted investigations — but the sources do not supply a complete, verifiable count of all such deaths across the administration, so an exact numeric total cannot be produced from this reporting alone [1] [2] [3] [4] [5].