DHS Secretary Kristi Noem
Ema Alice: Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem said Monday that all federal immigration officers in Minneapolis will begin wearing body cameras while in the field.
Noem wrote on the social platform X that she spoke with White House border czar Tom Homan, acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Todd Lyons and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Rodney Scott on the move, which she noted is “effective immediately.”
“As funding is available, the body camera program will be expanded nationwide,” the DHS secretary noted. “We will rapidly acquire and deploy body cameras to DHS law enforcement across the country.”
DHS has surged ICE and CBP personnel to Minneapolis over the last two months, amid a federal probe into fraud within Minnesota’s social services programs.
In the wake of the fatal shootings of two Minnesotans — Renee Good was shot by an ICE officer on Jan. 7, and Alex Pretti was shot by CBP agents on Jan. 24 — Democrats on Capitol Hill have pushed for reforming the federal law enforcement agencies.
Last Wednesday, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) proposed three demands in exchange for Democratic support of Homeland Security funding, including body camera requirements for federal officers. Federal law does not mandate that ICE and CBP personnel wear body cameras while in the field.
Schumer also proposed ending roving patrols by immigration officers, tightening rules governing the use of warrants by officers targeting migrants, establishing a universal code of conduct regarding officers’ use of force and prohibiting officers from wearing masks.
“These are commonsense reforms,” Schumer said while unveiling his proposals. “If Republicans refuse to support them, they are choosing chaos over order, plain and simple.”
The Senate on Friday voted to fund five agencies via regular appropriations bills and fund DHS by way of a two-week continuing resolution. The House is expected to vote Tuesday on the legislation, which, if passed and signed into law by President Trump, would bring a partial government shutdown that began early Saturday to an end.
Multiple Republican lawmakers, including House Speaker Mike Johnson (La.) and Sen. Ron Johnson (Wis.), have backed requiring immigration officers to wear body cameras.
“I don’t have a problem with that, personally,” Sen. Johnson told host Dana Bash on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.
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