Four people are dead at the hands of federal immigration agents, none of the officers involved were wearing body cameras, and the Department of Homeland Security wants you to know this is the Democrats' fault. This is where we are. This is the country we live in right now.
The Promise They Made and Immediately Forgot
Back in January, ICE agents shot and killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis: Renee Good and Alex Pretti. DHS initially called them domestic terrorists who tried to kill federal agents. Bystander video contradicted that story almost immediately. The political pressure that followed forced DHS to make a public commitment: body cameras for all immigration agents, deployed quickly.
That was nearly six months ago. As NPR reports, those plans have "not fully materialized." Which is a very polite way of saying they did basically nothing.
In just the past week, federal immigration agents fatally shot two more men. Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a father, was killed in Texas. DHS says he tried to weaponize his car against an agent. Joan Durán Guerrero, another father, was shot and killed in Maine while allegedly trying to flee. In both cases, according to DHS itself, none of the agents involved were wearing body cameras.
Tom Homan's Very Interesting Explanation
White House Border Czar Tom Homan showed up in front of reporters Tuesday with an answer for all of this. He said "hundreds" of cameras were purchased and sent to Minnesota after the January killings. But there weren't enough to go around, he said, because he was "waiting up for more money."
This is worth sitting with for a second. Congress, controlled by Republicans, made ICE the highest-funded federal law enforcement agency in the country. Then, as NPR reports, Congress turned around and gave DHS $31 billion for technology including body cameras. And Tom Homan's answer is that he needed more money.
The Cato Institute's David Bier, who directs immigration studies at the libertarian think tank, told NPR that DHS has millions in discretionary funds it could spend on equipment like body cameras right now if it wanted to. "Even after multiple deaths where body camera footage would have been relevant they have not implemented the requirement," Bier said. So the money argument is, at minimum, incomplete.
Blame the Shutdowns, Blame the Democrats, Blame Everyone But Us
DHS did eventually respond to NPR's questions, just not the specific ones about how many cameras they actually own or plan to buy. Instead, the agency issued a statement that read: "The process of purchasing and issuing body-worn cameras to all of our ICE field offices was interrupted by the Democrats and multiple government shutdowns."
Let that sentence do its work. A Republican administration, funded by a Republican Congress, operating with a $31 billion technology budget, cannot find a way to buy cameras for its agents because of the Democrats. Got it.
DHS also added, without apparent self-awareness, that body cameras are "especially needed because the media and sanctuary politicians consistently spread smears about our law enforcement." So the cameras are important as a rebuttal tool against critics, but not important enough to actually purchase and deploy before shooting more people. The logic is tight.
What Accountability Actually Looks Like Without Cameras
In both of the most recent killings, it was surveillance footage from homes and businesses that started filling in what happened in the moments before the shootings. Not federal cameras. Not official documentation. Strangers' security systems.
Lauren Bonds, executive director of the National Police Accountability Project, told NPR that independent witnesses have been the only reason any information has reached the public at all. "It's really hard to be able to hold ICE agents accountable in any manner if all we're getting from DHS right now is kind of vague statements," she said.
That's the actual situation. Four people dead. DHS issuing vague statements. Cameras pointed everywhere except at the agents doing the shooting. And a promise made six months ago that exists now as nothing more than a press release.
Cameras Won't Fix Everything, But Their Absence Sure Helps Someone
Bonds was careful to note that body cameras are not a magic solution. Officers, she told NPR, have learned to simply not activate them, or delete footage after the fact. "The best way to stop ICE brutality is to limit officer interactions with the public," she said. That's the harder, more structural argument that nobody in power wants to have.
But Bier at Cato made a sharper observation. He told NPR that DHS's repeated failure to act reveals something about what the agency actually wants. "They don't want to have their agents' actions broadcast and have that video out there," he said, pointing out that agents in many operations are already wearing masks to hide their identities. "They are wearing masks for a reason."
Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine, renewed her call for a body camera mandate after the shooting of Durán Guerrero in her state. "This incident shows how imperative it is that we have a mandate for body-worn cameras," Collins told reporters. Congress included the $31 billion technology funding without that mandate, because Republicans could not agree to require ICE to actually use what they buy. Even the requirement to purchase the thing is optional.
The Dingo Take
Here's the clearest possible summary of what happened here. DHS killed two U.S. citizens in January with no body cameras. Video from bystanders immediately contradicted DHS's version of events. DHS promised cameras. DHS then killed two more people with no body cameras. DHS blamed Democrats and government shutdowns. Congress gave them $31 billion. There is still no mandate to buy or use cameras. Tom Homan says there's "a deployment schedule on the books." Four people are dead.
The cameras aren't coming because the cameras are not wanted. That is not a cynical interpretation. That is the conclusion supported by six months of evidence and a $31 billion appropriation that somehow hasn't solved the problem. When an agency operates with masked agents, resists body camera mandates, issues vague statements after shootings, and then blames the opposition party for its own inaction, it is telling you something clearly. The question is whether anyone with actual power over DHS is willing to hear it.
Collins is calling for a mandate. Good. A mandate from a Congress that already handed ICE a $31 billion blank check without strings attached. The same Congress that made ICE the best-funded federal law enforcement agency in American history and still couldn't write "you must use the cameras you buy" into the bill. Four funerals later, the deployment schedule is on the books. That ought to comfort everyone.
