Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced Monday that federal immigration enforcement officers in Minneapolis will immediately begin wearing body-worn cameras, a move she said is aimed at increasing transparency amid scrutiny over recent enforcement actions and fatal shootings in the city.
In a post on X and public statements, Noem said the body camera program will be rolled out first to every officer in the field in Minneapolis “effective immediately,” with plans to expand the program nationwide as funding becomes available.
The decision follows intense public attention — including protests and calls for accountability — after two U.S. citizens were shot and killed by federal agents during immigration enforcement operations in Minneapolis earlier this year. The first fatal shooting, on Jan. 7, involved Renée Good, and the second, on Jan. 24, involved Alex Pretti. Both incidents have drawn nationwide criticism of the tactics used by federal officers and renewed debate over accountability mechanisms for immigration enforcement.
Noem framed the body camera deployment as a transparency measure that will help ensure clear records of encounters between officers and the public. She wrote that as funding becomes available, the body camera program will be expanded to cover Homeland Security officers across the country.
A neigbhor who saw what happened told local MPR news: “She was trying to turn around, and the ICE agent was in front of her car, and he pulled out a gun and put it right in — like, his midriff was on her bumper — and he reached across the hood of the car and shot her in the face like three, four times” / Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license
President Donald Trump expressed support for the initiative, saying that body cameras “generally tend to be good for law enforcement because people can’t lie about what’s happening.”
The announcement comes amid ongoing debates in Washington over immigration enforcement practices and broader calls from lawmakers — particularly Democrats — for reforms that include mandatory body camera use for all federal immigration agents.
Officials have noted that some agents were already equipped with body cameras during recent operations and that footage from those devices is being reviewed as part of investigations into the shootings. The move to expand formal deployment is seen as part of an effort to respond to criticism and improve accountability across DHS enforcement activities.
