Every DHS agent in Minneapolis to wear body camera, Noem says

· UPI

Feb. 2 (UPI) -- The Department of Homeland Security plans to issue body cameras to all of its agents nationwide, starting with those who currently work in the field in Minneapolis.

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem made the announcement Monday as protests and backlash over the deaths of two U.S. citizens in the Minnesota city at the hands of federal immigration agents have spread across the country.

There have been increasing questions and criticism about why so few agents in Minneapolis have worn body cameras.

Democrats in Congress have held up an appropriations bill for DHS over concerns about agents' actions during the ongoing national immigration crackdown -- the lack of agents wearing body cameras among them -- which has led to a partial government shutdown.

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"Effective immediately, we are deploying body cameras to every officer in the field in Minneapolis," Noem said in a post on X.

"As funding is available, the body camera program will be expanded nationwide. We will rapidly acquire and deploy body cameras to DHS law enforcement across the country," she said.

Noem's announcement comes amid calls in Congress among both Democrats and Republicans for her to resign over not just the deaths of Renne Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, but the overall tenor of the administration's immigration actions since President Donald Trump retook office last January.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who last week met with border czar Tom Homan to request impartial investigations into the two shootings and a "significant" reduction in the number of federal agents in the state, questioned why agents had not already been wearing the cameras.

"This should have been the case long before they killed two Americans," Walz said in a post on X. "Border patrol agents should never have been sent in masks and camo to wreak havoc and aimlessly run around a state 1,500 miles from the Southern border."

Walz has been critical of the operation as agents in Minneapolis have ratcheted up violence against both protesters and people it is arresting, which he described as an act of "retribution" by the Trump administration against the state.

DHS has long been called on to require all agents wear body cameras, but only a handful of agents had done so -- some have used their own personal cell phones to film interactions with targets of investigations and protesters -- but did not require agents to wear them after Pretti's death until Monday, CNN reported.

When asked by a reporter about the cameras, President Donald Trump said the program was Noem's decision but he supports it, ABC News reported.

"They generally tend to be good for law enforcement because people can't lie about what's happening," Trump said during a press spray in the Oval Office. "So, generally speaking, I think 80% good for law enforcement. If she wants to do the camera thing, that's okay with me."

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