After federal immigration agents fatally shot two US citizens this January, the then-secretary of the Department of Homeland Security pledged to “rapidly” deploy body cameras to officers nationally.
“As funding is available, the body camera program will be expanded nationwide,” Kristi Noem wrote on social media on February 2. “We will rapidly acquire and deploy body cameras to DHS law enforcement across the country.”
But over five months later, the distribution of those body-worn cameras is still ongoing – and notably hadn’t reached the officers involved in fatal shootings in Houston and in Maine this past week. Neither victim was the intended target of the immigrant enforcement operations, officials have said.
The lack of body cameras for these Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raises questions as to the pace and status of that national effort. In the meantime, the lack of first-hand video from federal officers – combined with DHS’ recent history of false statements – has deepened skepticism of the government’s narrative in these fatal shootings.
“They’ve got tons of money. Why they don’t have body cams I think is a very fair question,” Sen. Angus King of Maine told CNN on Monday night. “That would resolve this kind of factual issue that we’re going to be trying to resolve over the next several weeks here in Maine.”
