The number of ICE agents killed in the line of duty since the agency's inception?
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Executive summary
ICE’s own Wall of Honor lists 29 personnel who have died in the line of duty since the agency was created after the September 11, 2001 reorganization [1]. That figure reflects ICE’s internal compilation and is the clearest public tally available, but interpretation requires noting ICE’s practice of including deaths that predate the agency and a range of causes of death beyond violent encounters [2] [3].
1. The headline number: 29 deaths on ICE’s Wall of Honor
ICE’s public memorial, the “Wall of Honor,” is the primary source for counting agency line-of-duty deaths and, according to reporting citing ICE’s list, contains 29 names of ICE officers who died since the agency’s post‑9/11 creation [1]. The Department of Homeland Security component’s own tribute pages describe specific cases — from officers killed in shootings or stabbings to those who died after COVID‑19 exposure or from cancers linked to 9/11 recovery work — showing ICE’s list mixes causes and contexts [2].
2. What “line of duty” means in ICE’s compilation — a broad category
ICE’s Wall of Honor does not restrict entries to on‑scene enforcement shootings; it includes deaths tied to work exposures (for example COVID‑19 cases) and occupational illnesses (notably cancer from 9/11 recovery efforts), plus traffic and other duty‑related fatalities [2]. Consequently the 29 count is not a tally solely of agents killed in confrontations during arrests, but a broader memorial of personnel whose deaths the agency attributes to duty-related circumstances [2].
3. Historical context and reporting that expands the frame
Independent reporting notes ICE’s memorial also references deaths of immigration enforcement personnel dating back to earlier agencies, producing lists of more than a dozen violent killings stretching back to the early 20th century; Mother Jones reports that ICE’s Wall of Honor includes cases “since 1915,” with the most recent pre‑ICE enforcement death recorded around 1970 [3]. That means public narratives can conflate three different categories: pre‑2001 deaths tied to predecessor agencies, post‑2001 ICE deaths across varied causes, and deaths directly resulting from enforcement altercations.
4. Alternative databases and limits of public data
Outside of ICE’s own list, memorial projects like the Officer Down Memorial Page maintain independent records of law enforcement deaths but classify agencies and causes differently, and those databases may not align exactly with ICE’s criteria [4]. Journalistic investigations and watchdog reporting — for example on shootings involving ICE officers — document additional incidents and controversies [5] [6], but they typically focus on civilian deaths or use‑of‑force questions rather than producing a single definitive count of ICE personnel killed in the line of duty.
5. How to interpret the figure and where ambiguity remains
The defensible, sourced answer to “how many ICE agents have been killed in the line of duty since the agency’s inception” is 29 according to ICE’s Wall of Honor as reported by multiple outlets [1]. That answer must be accompanied by two caveats: ICE includes a range of duty‑related deaths (infectious disease, occupational cancer, accidents, and violent attacks) in that tally [2], and ICE’s memorial also references personnel deaths from predecessor immigration enforcement agencies dating back decades, which can inflate perceptions if readers expect a narrow count of violent deaths during enforcement operations [3].
6. Final reading: a clear answer with necessary context
Reporters and researchers relying on ICE’s own list should quote the 29 figure but also explain ICE’s inclusive definition of “line of duty” and the historical carryover into its Wall of Honor; alternative sources may count differently depending on whether they exclude illness, off‑duty incidents, or pre‑2001 deaths [2] [3] [4]. Where sources lack consensus or granular public documentation, transparency about those limits is essential: the public record points to 29 ICE personnel memorialized by ICE as line‑of‑duty deaths since the agency’s creation, and further disaggregation requires agency data or independent verification not fully available in the reporting reviewed here [1] [2].