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Federal records show 56 deaths in ICE custody in the U.S.
Federal records show that 56 people died in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) between January 23, 2025, and August 23, 2026. During the same period, at least 31 shootings involving agents left 9 people dead and 15 injured.
The expanding immigration operations of President Donald Trump’s administration in the U.S. have intensified debate over the use of force by ICE agents, detention conditions and the handling of investigations. Federal records show that 56 people died in ICE custody between January 23, 2025, and August 23, 2026.
Data from an organization that tracks gun violence in the U.S. identified at least 31 incidents since the operations launched by the Trump administration last year in which immigration agents fired at people. Nine people were killed and 15 were injured in those incidents. The data also recorded 49 incidents in which witnesses, protesters or other people were held at gunpoint.
Incidents resulting in deaths and injuries
One of the latest incidents occurred in Austin, Texas, on September 20. Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, a 28-year-old Venezuelan DoorDash courier, was shot during a traffic stop involving ICE officers.
Perez said that unmarked vehicles struck his car and that shots were fired as he tried to stop. His attorney said Perez suffered a broken collarbone and was having difficulty moving; a bullet was found in Perez’s back.
Federal prosecutors charged Perez on September 29 with assaulting, resisting, obstructing and interfering with a federal officer. The hearing was postponed until October 2. Federal authorities argued that Perez had a final deportation order and was attempting to evade arrest.
Austin police released footage from after the incident, but the recordings did not reveal why one of the officers fired. Local and state authorities are continuing the investigation. Travis County prosecutors and some lawmakers called for Perez’s deportation to be halted, saying he was an important witness for the investigation and any possible trial.
In Biddeford, Maine, an ICE officer shot 25-year-old Colombian citizen Johan Sebastian Duran Guerrero during a vehicle-related encounter on July 13, 2026. Guerrero, who worked as a food delivery driver and cleaner, had a 3-year-old daughter.
Local authorities said officers had initially been looking for another person. The officer argued that he fired because he feared for public safety, but limited information was released about the incident. Protests were held afterward, and the Maine attorney general’s office opened an investigation.
In Houston, Texas, 52-year-old Mexican citizen Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was killed on July 7, 2026, when an ICE officer opened fire as he was driving a construction crew to work. Araujo, who had reportedly lived in the U.S. for about 35 years, had three U.S.-citizen children.
Federal authorities alleged that Araujo tried to hit an officer with his minivan. Passengers in the vehicle said that unmarked vehicles struck the minivan, that it had stopped before shots were fired and that officers were beside the minivan. His family called for an independent investigation.
Alex Pretti, an intensive care nurse at a hospital treating veterans in Minneapolis, Minnesota, died on January 24, 2026, after federal immigration officers opened fire.
Federal officials initially characterized Pretti as an armed threat. However, released footage showed Pretti recording with his phone, intervening as officers confronted a woman, and then being taken to the ground and shot. The footage increased challenges to the official account and prompted calls for an independent investigation.
In the same city, Renee Good, a U.S. citizen and mother of three, was shot and killed by an ICE officer while inside her car on January 7, 2026. Federal officials alleged that Good tried to hit the officer with her car and that the officer fired in self-defense.
Witnesses and local officials disputed that account. Good’s death sparked protests against immigration operations in Minneapolis. Minnesota prosecutors are investigating the deaths of Good and Pretti.
In the Franklin Park area of Illinois, 38-year-old Mexican citizen Silverio Villegas Gonzalez was shot and killed during an ICE traffic stop on September 12, 2025, after dropping his children off at school. Gonzalez, who had a family, worked as a cook.
The Department of Homeland Security said an officer was dragged by a vehicle and seriously injured during the incident. The officer later described the injury as “not significant,” a characterization that raised questions about the official account.
In South Padre Island, Texas, 23-year-old U.S. citizen Ruben Ray Martinez was shot multiple times and killed by a federal immigration officer on March 15, 2025, while celebrating his birthday with friends.
Immigration investigators were assisting local police with traffic control around an accident. Authorities argued that Martinez intentionally struck an officer with his vehicle and that the officer was taken to a hospital with a knee injury. One of the passengers in the vehicle disputed that claim.
Footage released later raised questions about what happened during the incident and the instructions given to Martinez. A Texas grand jury decided in February not to indict. Attorneys for Martinez’s family called for all the investigative findings to be released.
Deaths in ICE custody
According to official ICE records, 56 people have died in detention centers since 2025. The 33 deaths recorded last year were the highest annual total in more than two decades.
The death records included heart failure, other medical emergencies and suspected suicides. Investigations into the causes of death are still underway in some cases.
One of the most recently recorded deaths was that of 51-year-old Chinese citizen Lianyong Wei. Wei was found dead on August 23, one day after being taken into ICE custody, and his death certificate recorded the manner of death as suicide.
Edwin Lopez-Cornejo, a 41-year-old held at the Delaney Hall detention center in New Jersey, became ill on August 1 after complaining of dizziness and high blood pressure. Medical personnel performed CPR and used a defibrillator, but Lopez-Cornejo died at a hospital.
Lopez-Cornejo, who had epilepsy, hypertension and diabetes, was the father of a 12-year-old U.S.-citizen girl. His family alleged that detention staff failed to provide his medications properly and did not adequately monitor his health.
One death classified as a homicide
Geraldo Lunas Campos, a 55-year-old Cuban citizen, died on January 3 at Camp East Montana in Texas. The El Paso County medical examiner’s office ruled that the death was a homicide caused by pressure on the neck and torso that prevented breathing.
ICE’s initial statement did not mention a struggle with security officers. Witnesses, however, alleged that officers choked Campos as he said he could not breathe. Classifying the death medically as a homicide indicates that it resulted from another person’s actions, but does not by itself establish criminal liability.
Camp East Montana is a tent-based facility located on the grounds of Fort Bliss in Texas. Campos’s death was one of at least three reported at the facility in a little more than a month.
Shooting at an ICE facility in Dallas
On September 24, 2025, a gunman on a nearby roof opened fire on three detainees at an ICE facility in Dallas. Norlan Guzman-Fuentes died at the scene, while Miguel Angel Garcia-Hernandez died from his injuries.
The gunman was not an immigration officer. As a result, the deaths in ICE custody also included victims of an attack carried out from outside the facility.
Charges and ongoing investigations
ICE officer Christian Castro faced state and federal charges in connection with the shooting of Julio Sosa-Celis, a Venezuelan citizen, in Minnesota in January. Prosecutors alleged that Castro fired through the doorway of a home and falsely claimed that he had been attacked.
Castro was also federally charged with lying to investigators. Arrested in Minneapolis in September, Castro was released from state custody and pleaded not guilty to the federal charges.
The steps taken by federal authorities to investigate other shootings also came under criticism. Then-U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in January, after the shootings in Minneapolis, that there would not be an investigation in every incident in which an officer had to defend himself against someone who endangered the officer’s life.
Prosecutors in Minnesota are examining the deaths of Good and Pretti. Federal authorities handed evidence over to state officials in July after months of disputes over access to the evidence.
Hundreds of immigrants and protesters who demonstrated against immigration operations have also been charged with assaulting federal officers. These cases formed another dimension of the debate over the use of force during the operations and accountability for the actions of federal officers.
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