DHS rejects watchdog call to auto-activate ICE body cameras

Only CBP has automated controls, GAO finds

The Department of Homeland Security rejected a Government Accountability Office recommendation that federal immigration agents automatically activate their body cameras when drawing their weapons, according to a GAO report published Wednesday.

The government watchdog agency found that Immigration and Customs Enforcement has failed to ensure its agents comply with the policy that body cameras be active during enforcement, and recommended that ICE adopt automated controls similar to those used by Customs and Border Protection.

“Only CBP has automated controls, such as automatic camera activation technology,” the report said. “ICE does not have similar automated control activities in place to help ensure that personnel activate their cameras as required by policy or to reliably monitor whether repeated instances of failure to activate occur. This presents the risk of personnel not capturing footage of incidents when they are required to do so.”

DHS said implementing automatic activation controls to body-worn cameras “presents operational risks,” and cameras may become active on accident. The department added that inadvertent or false activations could result in “the unauthorized recording of sensitive interactions with informants or victims, or the recording of bystanders engaged in First Amendment activities in areas where camera use is restricted.”

The GAO also recommended that CBP and ICE update their body camera plans, which have not been revised since 2022 and 2024, respectively.

Congressional Democrats requested the review following deadly shootings by federal immigration agents. ICE officers have killed six people since President Donald Trump returned to office, according to the report.

ICE said earlier this year it would equip all of its officers with body cameras by the end of August, after officers killed two immigrants during the summer while not wearing body cameras. Last month, DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said the agency had not yet distributed body cameras to all officers.

The GAO also found that CBP and ICE have not implemented any measures to assess the results of their body camera programs, apart from tracking some “basic information” like the number of video recordings they have captured.