Immigration and Customs Enforcement says it now has enough body cameras to equip all its officers and agents.
The update comes after years of immigration officials telling lawmakers and advocates that they did not have enough devices for a body-worn camera program to be implemented agency-wide.
"Training required to equip individual officers remains ongoing and we expect to complete this training soon," an unnamed spokesperson told NPR in a statement.
Cameras could help alleviate some concerns about ICE transparency and accountability after federal immigration officers were involved in over two dozen shootings under the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said he predicts that by the end of September every officer in the field will have a body-worn camera.
"We have the permanent cameras, but we also have Motorola [that] is working with us on the mics that we use," Mullin said during a press conference in New York on Tuesday, noting that the microphones could also act as a camera. He said he plans to meet with the CEO of Motorola this week to discuss how to use that technology.
"It's for our safety and the public safety, too," he said.
Federal immigration officers came under fire in July after the deadly shooting of two immigrants, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Texas and Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Maine. In both instances, neither the target of the arrest nor the officers involved were wearing body cameras, according to the agency.
The incidents prompted renewed calls from lawmakers, including from GOP Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and dozens of Democrats, for the agency to roll out body-worn cameras to every officer. The demand also comes as ICE hit its highest monthly arrest totals so far this administration — some 50,000 people in July. The agency faces growing calls for body cameras as it's both hired more officers and ramped up arrests.
But those who want body-worn cameras say they're still waiting to see if the program is fully implemented, and if footage from incidents is publicly released.
Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine called ICE's remarks about enough devices a "hollow promise," criticizing the agency's policy, which gives the director discretion over publicly releasing the footage gathered.
"Unless and until there is a change of policy and leadership, today's news simply means that there is more expensively-equipped lawlessness on our streets rather than responsible, legitimate law enforcement," King said in a statement.
ICE did not respond to questions regarding how long training will take or how many officers already have cameras.
But some members of Congress, including Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), have been told that training is already completed.
"The fact that ICE has now acquired enough cameras to equip officers and agents nationwide is important progress. We understand training has been completed across all ICE areas of responsibility," Cuellar said in a statement to NPR. "Body cameras protect the public and officers by providing a clear record of what happens during enforcement actions while strengthening transparency and accountability."
Multi-year effort to push for cameras
Money provided by congressional Republicans last year made ICE the highest-funded federal law enforcement agency.
But none of the money was specifically earmarked for body-worn cameras.
At the start of the year, top DHS officials, including Mullin, urged lawmakers to provide funding specifically for purchasing more body cameras and training officers on how to use them. Congress, across two different funding measures, responded by providing $31 billion for technology, including for body cameras, and $20 million specifically for body cameras — though lawmakers were unable to negotiate a mandate for ICE to purchase or use the cameras.
It is still unclear how many body cameras the agency owns.
Officials in February told lawmakers that ICE had 3,000 cameras for 13,000 officers. In some instances, entire field offices were not equipped with any cameras.
During "Operation Metro Surge" in Minneapolis last winter, for example, there were no body-worn cameras "physically located" at the St. Paul field office, according to court records.
However, immigration officers in Minneapolis were wearing cameras when they shot and killed two U.S. citizens in January. Footage from the cameras worn by CBP officers involved in the death of 37-year-old Alex Pretti contradicted the administration's initial narrative of his death, and renewed calls for broader use of the cameras.
This summer, DHS awarded two contracts to Axon Enterprise totaling more than $30 million for cameras.
ICE has been looking at how to equip its officers with body-worn cameras for at least five years. Congress mandated in 2021 that the agency work with the Homeland Security Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties to design a pilot program for body-worn cameras. A DHS report from 2024 says ICE expected body cameras to be implemented agency-wide by September 2025; it's now been a year since that prediction.
The initial effort was part of a broader Biden administration executive order to expand federal law enforcement use of body cameras.
But President Trump rescinded that Biden executive order when he returned to the White House last year. And DHS shrunk the office tasked with helping to oversee the ICE camera pilot program.
—With assistance from NPR's Sergio Martínez-Beltrán.
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