The Behind Bars Data Project at UCLA School of Law has published the first comprehensive dataset of deaths in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody.

Working in partnership with lawyer and journalist Andrew Free, members of the project used ICE records to create a resource that offers researchers, journalists, advocates, policymakers, and the public detailed insights on the nearly 300 people who have died in ICE custody since the agency’s creation in 2003.

The compendium arrives at an important moment. “U.S. immigration detention has reached record highs, with more than 68,000 people in custody as of February 2026,” reads text on the dataset’s website. “As the number of people in ICE custody has grown, deaths have followed, reaching 31 deaths in 2025, the highest number since 2004.”

According to project, Congress has required that ICE notify the public of all deaths in custody within 48 hours. ICE must also release detailed reports on the circumstances leading up to each death. But these reports often wind up inconsistent and scattered across dozens of records. Therefore, the Behind Bars Data Project is the first to aggregate and systematize those records, originally compiled by Free, into a single, searchable resource covering more than two decades.

UCLA Law professor Sharon Dolovich directs the Behind Bars Data Project, which she founded in 2020, initially to track the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on people in the carceral system.

“Deaths in ICE custody are part of a broader national pattern of preventable deaths behind bars,” she said in a press release announcing the launch of the findings. “At a moment when immigration detention is expanding and oversight remains fragmented, it is critical to have complete, longitudinal data. This release builds on our broader work documenting deaths across carceral systems nationwide and brings the same rigor and transparency to immigration detention. Without reliable data, there can be no meaningful accountability.”