How many immigrants have died in custody during Trumps presidency
Executive summary
Available reporting documents dozens of deaths in U.S. immigration custody tied to both the first and second Trump presidencies, but the sources provided do not converge on a single, definitive cumulative total; the clearest single-year figure in the reporting is that 32 people died in ICE custody in 2025, the deadliest year in two decades [1], while earlier reporting counted at least 22 deaths by January 2019 [2]. Advocates say many of these deaths were preventable and linked to detention expansion and neglect, while DHS and ICE have defended their care standards [3] [4].
1. Known, verifiable totals for single years — 2025 as the standout
Multiple major outlets and watchdog compilations identify 2025 as an outlier year: The Guardian documented 32 deaths in ICE custody during 2025, calling it the agency’s deadliest year in more than two decades [1], and Reuters and other outlets reported that 2025 deaths reached a 20-year high and numbered around 30–32 by late December [5] [4]. Those counts include people who died at detention sites, in transit, or after transfer to hospitals while still under ICE custody [1].
2. Earlier counts during Trump’s first term and reporting gaps
Reporting from 2019 — cited by outlets such as The Independent relying on NBC’s analysis — recorded at least 22 immigrants who had died in U.S. immigration custody since President Trump took office, but that figure was an early snapshot and not a final tally for his first term [2]. Other sources in the set note recurring clusters of deaths in early 2025 (three in just over a month reported by the ACLU of Florida, p1_s3), demonstrating that many datasets are episodic and facility- or fiscal-year–based rather than cumulative across both presidencies [6].
3. Why a single cumulative number is elusive in the available reporting
The sources use different counting windows (calendar year, fiscal year, “since X date”), and various outlets compile lists from ICE press releases, watchdog tallies, media investigations and local coroner findings, producing overlapping but not identical lists — for example, the American Immigration Council cited 23 deaths in a fiscal year in one analysis [7] [3] while The Guardian and Reuters reported 32 deaths for calendar year 2025 [1] [5]. Because the provided reporting does not include a single harmonized, authoritative dataset covering all of Trump’s time in office, a definitive cumulative total across both presidencies cannot be reliably calculated from these sources alone [7] [1] [2].
4. Competing explanations and institutional framing
Immigrant-rights groups, lawyers and journalists highlighted links between detention expansion, overcrowding, and medical neglect as causes of the higher death tolls and argued many deaths were preventable [6] [8] [3], while DHS spokespeople and ICE insisted death rates “remained in step with historic norms” even as detention populations rose, asserting facilities provide comprehensive medical care [4]. Those differences reflect implicit agendas: advocacy groups use mortality tallies to argue against detention expansion, while officials emphasize procedural normalcy to defend policy and management choices [6] [4].
5. What reporting can and cannot tell readers now
From the provided sources it is certain that dozens of immigrants died in ICE custody during Trump administrations — notably 32 in 2025 alone [1] and at least dozens earlier in his first term as reported in 2019 [2] — but the materials here do not provide a single, fully reconciled cumulative total for all deaths across both presidencies; producing such a number would require cross-checking ICE’s full death logs, fiscal-year compilations and independent coroner reports beyond the documents supplied [1] [7] [2]. Reporting also documents contested causes and investigations for some deaths, underscoring that counts are part of broader legal and political battles over detention policy [1] [5].