Immigration Officers in Minneapolis Will Wear Body Cameras, Noem Says

The change comes as the federal government has provided accounts of fatal shootings that have sometimes conflicted with local officials and witness videos.

All immigration officers on the ground in Minneapolis will be equipped with body cameras, Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, said on Monday.

Ms. Noem said that the change would be effective immediately and that the program would be expanded nationwide “as funding is available.”

“We will rapidly acquire and deploy body cameras to DHS law enforcement across the country,” she said in a social media post.

The announcement came in response to concern and outrage among many Americans, including lawmakers in Congress, over aggressive tactics that federal officers have used to advance President Trump’s immigration crackdown. It follows stumbles in federal officials’ accounts of fatal shootings involving federal agents, which have sometimes conflicted with those of local officials and witness videos.

Shortly after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot Renee Good last month in Minneapolis, federal officials said she tried to run over law enforcement and the officer was acting in self defense. State and local officials quickly disputed that account, and a New York Times analysis of available footage of the encounter found no indication that the officer was run over.

Some officers in Minnesota have already been wearing body cameras. After federal agents fatally shot Alex Pretti, a U.S. citizen, Department of Homeland Security officials said there was body camera footage from multiple angles, which investigators would review.

A preliminary review by Customs and Border Protection’s internal watchdog office, based on body camera footage and other agency documentation, found that Mr. Pretti was shot by federal officers after resisting arrest, but did not indicate that he brandished a weapon during the encounter, as Ms. Noem had earlier claimed. Department of Homeland Security officials said shortly after the shooting that Mr. Pretti “wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.”

A New York Times analysis of witness videos of the shooting found that Mr. Pretti, who had a firearms permit, had appeared disarmed before he was killed. Federal officials have not publicly released body camera footage of the shooting.

Ms. Noem said the policy change on Monday came after she spoke with Tom Homan, Mr. Trump’s border czar; the Immigration and Customs Enforcement director; and the Customs and Border Protection commissioner.

On Monday, Mr. Trump said it “wasn’t my decision” but added that body cameras “generally tend to be good for law enforcement because people can’t lie about what’s happening.”

Lawmakers from both parties are open to providing additional funds for body cameras. The House last month passed a spending bill that would provide $20 million for purchasing body cameras for federal immigration officers after Democrats pressed for restrictions on ICE. But lawmakers have yet to reach an agreement to fund the Department of Homeland Security as Democrats push for a broader overhaul.

The department received a large infusion of funding last year after Congress approved roughly $170 billion over four years for immigration enforcement.

The agency has sent thousands of officers and agents to Minnesota, saying the enforcement operation is necessary to crack down on illegal immigration and promote safety. The Trump administration has similarly deployed immigration officers to Chicago, Maine and New Orleans in recent months.

In October, a federal judge in Illinois ordered federal agents already equipped with body cameras to turn them on while conducting immigration arrests and interacting with residents in the Chicago area.

Late last year, ICE told a nonprofit watchdog that it had found “no records” of body camera footage produced during its operation in Chicago. That claim raised questions as to whether the administration was fully complying with the court order and contradicted the fact that it had previously submitted video footage to a judge. In a statement in December, the Department of Homeland Security said “ICE never violated the court order.”

Michael Gold and Erica L. Green contributed reporting.

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