ICE agents resume nationwide traffic stops, now required to wear body cameras

United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is now requiring its officers to wear at least one body camera during vehicle stops, according to White House Border Czar Tom Homan.

 

The requirement follows the White House’s confirmation on Thursday that ICE vehicle stops will continue after ICE temporarily suspended their most non-urgent vehicle stops, which President Donald Trump overruled the next day.

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that Trump and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin are fully aligned on using traffic stops as a key tool for ICE deportation operations.

“They exonerate more law enforcement than they convict, and I want officers to wear body cameras because I want the American people to see what the ⁠officers saw when they took that action,” Homan said on a Sunday episode of Fox & Friends. 

“Vehicle stops are a necessary tool that ICE agents need in order to continue their deportation campaign of the worst of the worst illegal alien criminals from our country,” Leavitt said. “With respect to body cameras, I know there’s been some questions about that in recent days. Over half of all ICE field offices now do have body cameras.”

Leavitt attributed delays in equipping ICE agents with body cameras to the earlier Democrat-led DHS funding shutdown.

“ICE will ensure each arrest team has an individual wearing a body camera,” a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson said in a statement to Fox News. “Ensuring all of our ICE law enforcement officers have body cameras nationwide is a top priority for DHS — especially given the increase in attacks against our law enforcement, including more than 1,300% increase in assaults against them and a 3,300% increase in vehicle attacks.”

 

The Sunday directive follows heightened public scrutiny after ICE officers used fatal force during two recent operations in Texas and Maine. Mullin initially ordered a temporary hold on non-urgent vehicle stops after discussions with Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine), who expressed concern over the encounters.