How many people have died as a result of Trump's ice raids?
Executive summary
Available reporting does not produce a single, uncontested tally of “people who have died as a result of Trump’s ICE raids”; instead, contemporaneous records and press investigations document multiple, overlapping counts: 32 people died in ICE custody during 2025 (the agency’s deadliest year in two decades) [1], at least six more died in ICE detention in early 2026 [2], advocates have asserted similar figures for raid-related deaths [3], and separate counts exist for Border Patrol custody and agent-involved shootings that add further layers to the total [4] [5].
1. What the official custody statistics show: 32 in ICE custody in 2025 and additional deaths in 2026
ICE and independent reporting show that 2025 was the deadliest year in more than 20 years for deaths in ICE custody, with 32 people recorded as dying while in ICE detention during that year [1], and PBS News reports at least six deaths in ICE detention in 2026 so far [2]; those are deaths that occurred while people were held by the agency or under its custody and are the clearest, agency-linked numbers available in the public record [1] [2].
2. Deaths during enforcement operations, shootings and contested incidents
Beyond deaths in detention, several high-profile fatal shootings occurred in the course of enforcement operations: the killing of Minneapolis resident Renee Macklin Good by an ICE agent on Jan. 7 has been widely reported and became a focal point of protests [6] [7], and other shootings—such as the death of Alex Pretti—have been reported by national outlets [8]. The Washington Post documented that Department of Homeland Security officers fired shots in enforcement contexts 16 times since July, indicating multiple agent-involved shooting incidents during the enforcement surge [5].
3. Advocacy tallies and activist framing—similar numbers, different attributions
Immigrant-advocacy groups and some progressive outlets have produced their own counts and framed a broader “death toll” tied to the enforcement surge; for example, organizers cited by People’s World and United We Dream put a national figure at 32 deaths attributed to ICE agents and raids [3], a number that echoes the ICE-in-custody total for 2025 but which blends deaths in custody with on-scene fatalities in public reporting.
4. Border Patrol and other custody categories complicate the arithmetic
Public datasets and congressional correspondence suggest deaths outside ICE detention but still tied to federal immigration enforcement: a January 2026 letter from 12 members of Congress cited 17 deaths in Border Patrol custody reported during the first year of the administration [4]. Reuters and other outlets note additional deaths in the course of enforcement that occurred in cities such as Houston, Philadelphia and Indio, California, and identify named cases that resist simple aggregation [9].
5. Why a single definitive number is not—and cannot be—given from these sources
The reporting establishes several, partially overlapping categories—deaths in ICE detention (32 in 2025; six-plus in 2026 so far), agent-involved shootings and on-scene fatalities (documented high-profile cases and at least 16 DHS officer shootings since July), and Border Patrol custody deaths (17 cited to Congress)—but no single source reconciles all categories into one validated total attributable uniquely to “raids” [1] [2] [5] [4]. Agencies and the administration sometimes provide differing accounts or pre-emptive justifications for shootings [5], which further complicates an objective, consolidated death count tied solely to the policy of expanded raids.
6. Bottom line — the best-supported, evidence-based statement
Based on current public reporting, the most defensible, evidence-based figures are: 32 deaths in ICE custody in 2025 (agency- and press-documented) [1]; at least six additional in-custody deaths reported in early 2026 [2]; multiple agent-involved shootings during enforcement operations—including widely reported on-scene killings such as Renee Good and Alex Pretti—and at least 16 DHS officer firing incidents since July reported by The Washington Post [6] [8] [5]; and 17 Border Patrol custody deaths reported to Congress for the administration’s first year [4]. No single authoritative source in the provided reporting aggregates all of these into one “death toll from raids,” and tracing causality from the administration’s raid policy to each death requires further case-by-case investigation [1] [2] [5].