ICE will not reveal body-camera footage unless in agency’s ‘best interests’

A federal agent stands guard at Delaney Hall, an immigration detention facility in Newark, New Jersey, on 30 May 2026. uardian A federal agent stands guard at Delaney Hall, an immigration detention facility in Newark, New Jersey, on 30 May 2026. uardianICE (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement)ICE will not reveal body-camera footage unless in agency’s ‘best interests’Much-delayed devices to be deployed by end of month after immigration agents involved in deaths or serious injuriesRichard Luscombe and agencyFri 7 Aug 2026 17.08 CESTLast modified on Fri 7 Aug 2026 17.09 CESTShare Officers for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will be equipped with much-delayed body cameras by the end of next month, it was reported on Friday. But experts have questioned the transparency of a policy that allows the ICE director to restrict the public release of footage unless “it is in the best interests of the agency”.Pressure has mounted on the Trump administration to provide body cameras after people caught up in encounters with federal immigration personnel suffered death or serious injuries.Two men were shot and killed by ICE agents, in Texas and Maine, last month in circumstances similar to the death of another man during a traffic stop in Illinois last September. None of the officers involved was wearing a camera.Tom Homan, Trump’s so-called border czar, said last month that ICE officers would be required to have at least one body camera recording during future vehicle stops.

Policy for body-worn cameras was first established in a February 2025 ICE directive, but funding for their provision was held up by this year’s partial government shutdown, Homan said.ICE is now tracking nearly 54,000 immigrants via ankle monitorsRead moreThe intention of using such cameras, according to David Venturella, the ICE acting director, is to increase transparency and accountability.One analyst, however, told the that an accompanying “selective release” policy of footage meant taxpayers who put up more than $30m for the cameras may still be kept in the dark about some high-profile confrontations, at least in their immediate aftermath.Christopher Schneider, a sociology professor at Canada’s Brandon University, and co-author of Police Body-Worn Cameras: Media and the New Discourse of Police Reform, said the ICE director would have discretion to release recordings that reflect well on the agency’s image while working to keep others secret.“In some ways, ICE is saying the quiet part out loud,” he said.