The number of deaths of Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees over the last year has skyrocketed amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, which has led to the agency detaining more people that it has since it was created in 2003. File Photo by Craig Lassig/EPA
April 18 (UPI) — The number of people who have died while being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement has surpassed a 2004 high, and several deaths this year remain under investigation.
The agency on Friday released delayed reports on four people who died earlier this year, bringing the total in 2026 to 17, which is more than half of the 33 that were reported in all of 2025, NBC News and NPR reported.
ICE detentions have increased significantly since President Donald Trump retook office in January 2025 as a result of his administration’s crackdown on immigration, which resulted in roughly 3.3 million immigrants leaving the country last year, the Department of Homeland Security said in January.
The reports released on Friday cover deaths of ICE detainees in January and include the details of four people who died in custody, two of which had been labeled as death by suicide by the agency. The 17th death of a detainee occurred last week and also was labeled death by suicide.
“Death rates in custody under the Trump administration are 0.009% of the detained population,” DHS told NPR in a statement.
“Being in detention is a choice,” the statement said. “We encourage all illegal aliens to take control of their departure with the CBP Home App.”
The number of ICE detentions was 70% higher during the first year of the current Trump administration than it was during the first year of his predecessor, former President Joe Biden.
ICE Director Todd Lyons on Thursday told Congress that the spike in deaths among detainees is at least partially because the agency has the “highest amount of detention” it has had since it was created in 2003.
He also noted that about $500 million dollars was spent last year on ensuring detainees received health care, which includes seeing a doctor within 24 hours of being detained and receiving a physical within two weeks of detention.
“No death is what we want,” Lyons said. “We don’t want anyone to die in custody. I hope that’s a policy of anyone that has to be tasked with detaining someone.”
Lyons, who led ICE through most of the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration — which included controversial and sometimes violent surges in illegal immigration enforcement across the country — resigned hours after the hearing.
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