How many immigrants died during Barack Obama’s presidency,
Executive summary
Answer depends on the question’s definition: if the inquiry targets deaths of people while in U.S. federal immigration custody during Barack Obama’s presidency, reporting based on government records and later FOIA-based investigations gives a range—commonly cited figures are 56 to 67 deaths in ICE custody during Obama years (different sources and methodologies produce different totals) [1] [2] [3]. Broader claims—about children dying in Border Patrol custody, deaths after deportation, or annual deaths among the unauthorized population—use different data and require separate treatment [4] [5] [6].
1. What “died during Obama’s presidency” most journalists mean: deaths in ICE custody
Investigations that examined ICE records and FOIA disclosures produced counts of deaths that occurred while people were detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement during the Obama administration; a widely referenced FOIA-based report and advocacy analyses counted 56 such deaths under Obama [2] [1], while FactCheck, summarizing government ICE data, reported 67 deaths in ICE custody during the Obama years [3], illustrating that the headline number depends on exact datasets and cutoffs used by researchers [3] [2].
2. Why the tallies differ: definitions, time windows and custody systems
Discrepancies stem from methodological choices—whether analysts count deaths in ICE-operated facilities only or include deaths in privately run contract facilities overseen by ICE, the inclusion or exclusion of deaths at CBP (Customs and Border Protection) facilities or Border Patrol custody, and the date ranges used; advocates’ FOIA counts and DHS/ICE internal summaries reflect those different inclusion rules and review periods [2] [3].
3. Border Patrol custody and the contested “18 children” claim
A persistent social-media claim that “18 migrant children died in Border Patrol custody under Obama” lacks documentary support; fact-checking by Snopes and reporting by Human Rights Watch found no evidence that 18 children died while in Border Patrol custody during Obama’s term, and prior reporting has emphasized serious deficiencies in detention medical care but not a verified 18-child toll in Border Patrol facilities [4] [7]. Contemporary local reporting during Obama-era years did record child and adult deaths tied to migration, but not the viral figure that circulated later [4].
4. Other relevant death categories reporters sometimes conflate
Separate from deaths in U.S. custody are two different phenomena often conflated into a single “how many died under Obama” question: deaths of deportees after return to home countries, and the baseline death rate among the large unauthorized-population resident in the U.S. The Guardian’s investigation identified as many as 83 murdered deportees in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras since 2014—highlighting lethal outcomes after removal rather than deaths in U.S. custody [5]. By contrast, a demographic analysis cited by the Center for Immigration Studies estimated roughly 50,000 deaths per year among the unauthorized population living in the United States—an annual population mortality figure, not a custody-specific death toll [6].
5. Bottom line and limitations of available reporting
For deaths that occurred while people were detained by ICE during Obama’s presidency, authoritative public tallies cluster in the mid‑double digits: roughly 56 (FOIA/advocacy report) to 67 (ICE data summarized by FactCheck) deaths, with differences traceable to scope and methodology [2] [1] [3]. Claims that many children died in Border Patrol custody under Obama have been debunked or lack supporting documentation [4], and other figures cited online often mix categories (custody deaths, post‑deportation killings, or general mortality among unauthorized residents) that must be treated separately [5] [6]. Reporting gaps remain: public datasets and advocacy FOIA work illuminate much but do not eliminate uncertainty about exact counts when different agencies, contractors and post‑custody outcomes are considered [3] [2].