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All federal immigration agents in Minneapolis will begin wearing body cameras, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said Monday, as the department faces intense scrutiny over a pair of fatal shootings by federal agents in the Twin Cities.
“Effective immediately we are deploying body cameras to every officer in the field in Minneapolis,” Noem said in a post on X, writing that she had discussed the move with the heads of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection.
She added that the policy will be “expanded nationwide” as funding becomes available, writing: “We will rapidly acquire and deploy body cameras to DHS law enforcement across the country.”
President Trump expressed support for the decision on Monday, saying body cameras “generally tend to be good for law enforcement because people can’t lie about what’s happening.”
The Department of Homeland Security has deployed some 3,000 agents to the Minneapolis area, part of a monthslong crackdown on people accused of being in the U.S. illegally and amid an ongoing fraud scandal in Minnesota.
But the department has faced bipartisan criticism and questions about its tactics since the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by two CBP agents in Minneapolis late last month, which came weeks after Renee Good was killed by an ICE agent. White House border czar Tom Homan, who was dispatched to Minnesota after Pretti’s death, said last week that he’s preparing for a “drawdown” of forces in the state, but the timeline is not clear.
Federal agents already wear body cameras in certain cases. DHS has body camera footage from multiple federal agents who were on the scene for Pretti’s death, CBS News previously reported. The footage was referenced in a preliminary report to Congress by CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility.
A federal judge last year ordered federal agents to wear body cameras during all “law enforcement activities” in an earlier immigration surge in Chicago. The judge later told federal officials the order “wasn’t a suggestion” and was “not up for debate.”
Senate Democrats are pressing for all immigration agents to be required by law to wear body cameras, part of a litany of reforms sought by the party in exchange for their votes to fund DHS for the rest of the fiscal year. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer described the demand last week as a “masks off, body cameras on” policy.
A previously negotiated bill to fund DHS until September included $20 million for ICE and CBP to purchase body cameras. But since Pretti’s shooting, Democratic senators have said they will not vote for any DHS funding legislation that doesn’t include deeper reforms. The Senate voted late last week to extend DHS funding for two weeks to buy Congress time to hash out a longer-term deal. The House is expected to vote on that temporary funding measure this week.
Former President Joe Biden signed an executive order in 2022 setting the stage for requiring all federal agents to wear body cameras in “all appropriate circumstances,” part of a broader set of changes to federal law enforcement. That order was rescinded by Mr. Trump shortly after his second inauguration last year.
