A record number of people have died in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention during the current Trump administration, the agency’s acting director said April 16.
Since President Donald Trump took office for a second term in January 2025, USA TODAY’s tracker shows at least 48 people have died in ICE detention facilities. Todd Lyons, who leads ICE, told federal lawmakers at least 44 people have died in custody since he began his acting tenure in March 2025. Overall, numbers are higher since Trump returned to the White House promising to dramatically increase deportations from the United States.
“It is the highest because we do have the highest amount in detention that ICE has ever had since its inception in 2003,” Lyons told Rep. Lauren Underwood, D-Illinois.
Underwood, who questioned Lyons' numbers, grilled him on practices by ICE and other Department of Homeland Security agencies in a House budget hearing. DHS has remained partially unfunded since mid-February over lawmakers objecting to immigration agents' tactics that have resulted in Americans killed during federal operations. Conditions in immigrant detention facilities have also drawn heavy scrutiny since the start of Trump's second term.
