DHS Starts Dicking Around After Blowing Past Its Deadline For ICE Body Cam Rollout

In what was a severely belated response to acts of violence by immigration enforcement officers, “Border Czar” (who seems far more interested in raiding inland cities than patrolling the border) Tom Homan assured the nation that all ICE officers would soon be wearing body cameras. The only holdup, he said, was a lack of funding.

It was almost hilarious, or would have been if it hadn’t been uttered by one of the least funny people on the planet. Several months prior, Trump’s budget bill had made ICE the most well-funded federal law enforcement agency. And yet here was the “Czar” pretending it needed to scrape together some cash before it could make this purchase.

Nevertheless, Tom Homan claimed all ICE officers would be wearing cameras by the end of August. Then he said it would be sometime in September before the agency could engage in full roll-out. Then he said vague stuff about training which strongly suggested we’d be lucky to see our tax dollars spent on these quasi-accountability devices.

Well before the roll-out that seems to always be in progress, ICE installed a footage release policy that strongly favored withholding footage, especially in the cases where the public’s interest would be highest… like, you know, the murder of US citizens and residents by immigration officers.

The clock continues to move forward. And ICE continues to move backwards. Homan seems a bit recused at the moment, so DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin is now delivering the dithering, now that ICE has blown past one deadline and seems intent on blowing past the next one.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin’s update this week on when all Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers will be equipped with body cameras left many inside the agency confused.

“By the end of September, I’m pretty sure we will be there,” Mullin told reporters in New York on Tuesday.

Yet every ICE field office in the country has had enough body cameras for all of its employees tasked with making arrests since the end of August, according to a senior Trump administration official and a Department of Homeland Security official with knowledge of ICE’s body camera policy. ICE officers are being trained on how to use them, they said.

So, what’s the hold up? Well, somehow ICE is trying to spend money on microphones for the cameras, despite the fact that cameras already purchased from Axon already come equipped with mics. For reasons Mullin will never fully explain, the agency is securing a second contract for the sole purpose of adding a second-party mic to a first-party product that already has one.

Mullin further fueled confusion within DHS when he added that he’s in talks with Motorola about the company providing microphones for the body cameras.

What is even going on here? First impressions suggest some sort of graft that quid pro quos Motorola for, I don’t know, increasing the funds in Trump’s definitely-not-blind trusts. Or it’s just a thing the DHS wants to do because it will delay the deployment of cameras for just a bit longer, which buys a bit more time for officers who want to kill, maim, or run over people while on the clock.

No one really wants to explain what’s happening here. Mullin remains extremely vague with his comments and the two contractors involved have refused to comment at all on this turn of events. What is known is that ICE already agreed to pay $13 million to Axon to outfit every arresting officer with a camera. As for any bullshit about “training” delays, most ICE officers are already familiar with Axon’s products since Axon has been providing cameras to ICE since Biden was still in office.

It’s probably a combination of all of these things. ICE officers aren’t really thrilled to be wearing cameras. Mullin would probably prefer this whole camera thing never happens. And if you’re wondering about Motorola’s sudden appearance on the scene, well…

Records show Motorola has spent over $1 million in lobbying efforts this year aimed in part at DHS and other appropriations bills.

Adding this all up makes it clear we won’t be seeing ICE officers wearing cameras any time soon. The fuckery going on here indicates September will come and go before we see the promised roll-out. And the more time that passes, the less likely it is that ICE will ever live up to half-assed promises it made to its oversight and the general public that keeps it funded.