By REBECCA SANTANA Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Every Homeland Security officer on the ground in Minneapolis, including those from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, will be immediately issued body-worn cameras, Secretary Kristi Noem said Monday, in the latest fallout after the shooting deaths of two U.S. citizens at the hands of federal agents.
Noem said the body-worn camera program is being expanded nationwide as funding becomes available.
“We will rapidly acquire and deploy body cameras to DHS law enforcement across the country,” Noem said in a social media post on X.
The news of the body cameras comes as Minneapolis has been the site of intense scrutiny over the conduct of federal officers after two U.S. citizens protesting immigration enforcement activities in the city were shot and killed.
It is the latest apparent effort by the Trump administration to ratchet down tensions after the shootings triggered protests and widespread criticism.
The shooting deaths sparked calls for accountability
In the immediate hours after ICU nurse Alex Pretti’s death, Noem went on the offensive, saying several times that Pretti “came with a weapon and dozens of rounds of ammunition and attacked” officers, who took action to “defend their lives.” Other administration officials painted a similar picture.
Multiple videos that emerged of the shooting contradicted that claim, showing Pretti had only his mobile phone in his hand as officers tackled him to the ground, with one removing a handgun from the back of his pants as another officer began firing shots into his back.
Homeland Security has said that at least four Customs and Border Protection officers on the scene when Pretti was shot were wearing body cameras. The body camera footage from Pretti’s shooting has not been made public.
The department has not responded to repeated questions about whether any of the ICE officers on the scene of the killing of 37-year-old mother of three Renee Good earlier in January were wearing the cameras.
The shootings, and the narrative coming from some in the administration, sparked demands for accountability, including among some Republicans.
President Donald Trump sent his border czar Tom Homan to Minneapolis to take control of operations there, displacing Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino, who has become a lightning rod for criticism in the various operations he’s joined in cities like Chicago and Los Angeles.
The Justice Department has also opened a federal civil rights investigation into Pretti’s shooting, which it has not done in the case of Good.
Critics have increasingly called for Homeland Security to require its immigration enforcement officers to wear body cameras.
In response to Noem’s announcement, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said on X that body cameras should have been worn “long before (officers) killed two Americans.”
Lawmakers consider restraints in DHS funding bill
Noem’s announcement comes as the administration and Democrats are locked in a congressional battle over funding for the Department of Homeland Security.
Democrats have been demanding changes to rein in the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operations. An additional $20 million for body cameras was included in the bipartisan federal funding package that was approved by the Senate late last week ahead of a deadline to prevent a government shutdown.
But the House has yet to approve the package, launching a partial government shutdown for certain agencies, including Homeland Security, last Saturday. But because many Homeland Security operations are deemed essential, they continue despite the federal funding lapse.
Body cameras have become a flashpoint in previous immigration enforcement operations under the Trump administration’s mass deportations agenda, including during a major operation in Chicago last fall. A U.S. district judge ordered uniformed agents there to wear cameras, if available, and turn them on when engaged in arrests, frisks and building searches or when being deployed to protests.
A 2022 executive order on police reform by President Joe Biden directed federal law enforcement officers to wear body cameras. Trump had rescinded that directive after starting his second term.
Trump backs body-worn cameras
Noem’s move comes after Trump over the weekend endorsed the idea of body cameras for immigration officers.
After Noem’s announcement Monday, Trump said the decision was up to the secretary but said that he thought it was generally good for law enforcement to wear cameras.
“They generally tend to be good for law enforcement because people can’t lie about what’s happening,” he said in the Oval Office Monday, adding, “If she wants to do the camera thing, that’s OK with me.”
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow with the American Immigration Council, an advocacy group, said Noem didn’t need to wait for more money to enforce the new policy nationwide, pointing to the massive immigration enforcement funding measure that Congress passed last summer that gave ICE nearly $30 billion for “enforcement and removal operations” including spending on information technology.
“That buys a lot of body cameras,” he said.