A civic accountability publication · United States · Entry VI
ICE at 23.
2003 – April 2026. A $28.7-billion-per-year agency that has tripled its budget and doubled its headcount in one year — while arresting fewer violent offenders, killing detainees at the highest rate in 22 years, and publishing less data every month. The more it grows, the less you get to see.
Twenty-three years. One agency.
These are the two numbers it does not want you to see together: twenty-three years of custody deaths, and the share of one year's arrests that was for violent offenses.
deaths in ICE custody since FY2004 — JAMA (Basu et al., Apr 2026)
of 392,619 arrests since Jan 2025 had charges or convictions for violent offenses — CBS News internal-DHS analysis
An eighty-five-billion-dollar agency.
ICE now outspends the FBI, Coast Guard, and Bureau of Prisons combined. The more it grows, the less you get to see.
With OBBBA's four-year reconciliation pot (~$85.0B), ICE's effective envelope now exceeds the FBI, Coast Guard, and Bureau of Prisons combined. Real-dollar spending rose 184.9% from 2003 to 2024 — more than double the 83.3% growth in total federal spending over the same period.
Obama's 92%. Trump 2.0's 73%-with-no-conviction.
Ten years. Same agency. A forty-point swing on who gets arrested.
CBS News's internal-DHS analysis of 392,619 arrests since January 2025 found only 14% had charges or convictions for violent offenses.
73,400 in custody. 74% with no conviction.
TRAC: 52,504 of 70,766 in ICE custody on Jan 25 2026 had no criminal conviction. The administration's stated target is 100,000 ADP; funding supports 135,000 beds through FY2029.
The priority memos, erased twice.
Each reset re-enabled arrests of people with no criminal record. Two administrations issued tiered priorities — steel marks below. Two executive orders rescinded them — crimson marks below.
A quota the DOJ denied — while an agent testified to 8 a day.
Three claims. One agency. Three irreconcilable receipts.
3,000 per day
"no quota exists"
8 arrests per day
In the same courtroom, DOJ denied the quota existed while an agent described the verbal instruction he was operating under.
361 arrested. 4 had records.
Glass House Farms, Camarillo and Carpinteria, California, July 10 2025. One greenhouse. One fatality. One U.S. Army veteran. One professor. Four prior records.
88.9 per 100,000.
The deadliest rate in 22 years. FY2026 surpassed the FY2020 COVID-19 peak of 75.6. FY2022 had recorded just 13 — the lowest in the series. December 2025 was the deadliest month in ICE history.
Peer-reviewed JAMA research — Basu et al., April 17 2026 — 22-year mortality series in per-100,000 person-years.
First homicide ruling in ICE custody since 2007.
A tent camp at Fort Bliss. A county medical examiner. A death ruled a homicide January 3 2026 — 19 years after the last such ruling.
Thirty-four shootings in thirteen months.
The 2015–2021 baseline was 0.70 per month. Since January 2025: 2.6. A WSJ investigation separately documented 13 instances of agents firing at or into civilian vehicles between July 2025 and January 2026.
84 months (Trace / Business Insider / Type FOIA) — 59 shootings · 23 fatal · 0 criminal indictments
13 months (WSJ / NYT / AP / Reuters running tally) — 34 shootings · 9 fatal · 0 criminal convictions
84 months (Trace / Business Insider / Type FOIA) — 59 shootings · 23 fatal · 0 criminal indictments
13 months (WSJ / NYT / AP / Reuters running tally) — 34 shootings · 9 fatal · 0 criminal convictions
Shortly after the January 2026 Renee Good killing, Directive 19009.3 (firearms / use of force) was redacted on ice.gov under FOIA exemption (b)(7)(E).
DHS said he dragged the agent. The bodycam said 'nothing major.'
Silverio Villegas-González, 38. Line cook. No criminal record. Four minor traffic citations between 2010 and 2019. Shot in the back of the neck through his car window in Franklin Park, Illinois on September 12 2025.
“He drove his car at law enforcement officers and the agent was dragged a significant distance.”
“Nothing major.”
“Dragged a little bit.”
The Supreme Court said 9-0. Ten minutes was all it took.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia's flight to CECOT took off ten minutes after Chief Judge Boasberg's written turnaround order. SCOTUS later unanimously affirmed the duty to 'facilitate' his return.
Arrested for an op-ed.
The sole basis for a Tufts PhD student's visa revocation, per internal State Department records unsealed January 22 2026, was a March 2024 op-ed she co-authored in the Tufts Daily.
12,000 new officers. 41% less training.
Minimum age eighteen. Basic academy 47 days. Spanish instruction dropped August 2025.
(DHS announced)
(Schwank testimony)
The data goes dark.
The more it grows, the less you get to see. Unreleased annual reports. Withheld detention spreadsheets. Shrunken death notices. Redacted use-of-force policy.
- H.R. 7123 — Abolish ICE ActIntroduced Jan 15, 2026 by Rep. Thanedar; in committee. (Introduced 2026-01-15)
- FY2025 ICE Annual ReportStatutorily due; unpublished as of April 2026. (Due; unreleased)
- Directive 19009.3 (firearms / use of force)Redacted on ice.gov; FOIA appeal pending. (FOIA appeal pending)
- 48-hour death notices34 of 49 deaths lack a timely interim notice. (As of April 13 2026)
- Camp East Montana homicideFBI investigation open into the Lunas Campos custody death. No charges. (FBI investigation open)