How many people were murdered by ice

1. How many people died in ICE custody in the latest reporting — and why that matters

ICE’s own and press-compiled tallies show 2025 as the deadliest recent year, with at least 32 deaths in custody reported that year, a figure repeated across major outlets and data aggregators and noted as the highest since the early 2000s (The Guardian; People; Statista) ^{[1] [2] [3]}. Those totals matter because they form the raw pool from which allegations of agency culpability—criminal or negligent—arise, but the raw count does not distinguish cause, intent, or legal responsibility ^[3].

2. What counts as “murdered by ICE” and what the sources actually document

The phrase “murdered by ICE” implies homicide attributable to ICE officers or to agency policies; the sources do not provide a comprehensive, officially certified list of homicides by ICE but they do document that some deaths were shootings or have been legally characterized as homicides—most prominently, the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, which sparked national outrage and in at least one case included a medical examiner ruling of homicide by a law enforcement officer (People; The Guardian) ^{[2] [4]}. Beyond those high‑profile cases, ICE reports many deaths as medical emergencies, suicide, or other causes, and official cause-of-death reporting can lag or be incomplete ^{[1] [3]}.

3. Accountability claims and evidence of preventability vs. intent

Human‑rights and civil‑liberties organizations cite systemic medical neglect and procedural failures, arguing most deaths in custody were preventable; an ACLU‑led study found that in a sample of 52 deaths from 2017–2021, 95 percent were likely preventable or possibly preventable with adequate care, which frames many fatalities as the product of systemic neglect rather than explicit homicidal intent ^[5]. Advocacy groups and activists also emphasize rising detention populations and overcrowding as contributing factors to the spike in deaths (We Are Casa; American Immigration Council) ^{[6] [7]}.

4. The agency response and contested narratives

ICE and DHS contest some of the characterizations of culpability, pointing to medical responses, transfers to hospitals, and the need for full investigative reports before assigning blame; DHS statements claim care standards in some custody settings compare favorably with many prisons, while critics counter that delays, opaque reporting practices, and incomplete investigations have obscured the true scope of agency responsibility ^{[4] [8]}. Independent data trackers also warn that ICE’s definitions of custody and reporting lags can produce lower official counts than advocacy tallies, complicating cross‑source reconciliation (Statista; Wikipedia summary) ^{[3] [8]}.

5. Bottom line and limits of available evidence

There is no authoritative source among the provided reporting that gives a single, verified number of people “murdered by ICE”; reporting documents at least 32 deaths in ICE custody for 2025 (not all homicides) and identifies several killings by federal agents that have been treated as homicides in public coverage—most notably the cases of Renee Good and Alex Pretti—while advocacy groups argue that many more deaths were preventable and reflective of systemic failure rather than isolated incidents ^{[1] [2] [3] [5]}. Given inconsistent definitions, reporting lags, and disputed cause determinations in the sources provided, it is not possible from these materials to produce a definitive count of murders attributable to ICE beyond noting the specific homicide‑characterized incidents covered by the press and medical examiners ^{[2] [4]}.