Homan Wants Body Cameras for All
In what may sound like a curious statement to anybody who has seen examples of ICE brutality, border czar Tom Homan says he wants Americans to see what his immigrant hunters see when they do whatever it is they do.
Following two more deadly shootings at the hands of federal officers not wearing body cams, White House border czar Tom Homan on Sunday came out in strong support of equipping ICE and border patrol agents with the devices but also offered a curious excuse as to why this has not already been done.
“[Body cameras] 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,” he said Sunday on Fox & Friends Weekend.
While that may be true for regular law enforcement officers who are better trained, it is hard to see how body cams would have helped the cases of the ICE agents caught on tape by bystanders as they were roughing up or even killing Americans and immigrants alike.
In addition, there has been precious little accountability in those cases, which makes one wonder whether the Trump administration would only provide the footage from body cams when it bolsters the narrative of the Department of Homeland Security, which thus far has tended to fall apart once video evidence comes to light.
For example, The New York Times reported on Sunday that federal agents were notified in recent days that the FBI would stop investigating confrontation with immigration officials. The paper also published an analysis this week showing how often the government’s cases against those charged with impeding its immigration operations fall apart.
Therefore, it would be welcome news if all ICE and border patrol officers were forced to wear and activate their body cameras, but we are not holding our breath.
It should be noted that, when Democrats wanted to tie additional spending for these immigration agents to requirements such as the wearing of body cams, better training, and a prohibition on mask wearing, it was Republicans who resisted these efforts.
Which makes Homan’s explanation as to why it has taken so long to equip DHS personnel with the gadgets very curious.
“Everybody in ICE would have a camera now if the government wasn’t shut down by Democratic members of Congress. There was money in that bill that they held up,” he said in a separate appearance on Face the Nation.
“I think it was $120 million to equip all ICE officers with cameras,” he added. “But because the government shut down we’re behind on that.”
In reality, DHS is flush with money for ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Even before Republicans in Congress gave them an additional $70 billion in June, the two agencies were sitting on $100 billion in unspent money, so it’s hard to see how they could not have found the funds for body cameras.
Still, it would be a welcome development if this actually were to happen.
“I think body cameras are the way to go,” Homan said. “You know, you can have a cell phone camera from a witness on the side, you can have, you know, city cameras or whatever, but I want the American people to see what that officer sees when he makes – when he takes – when he makes the decision and takes action.”
He may want to be careful what he wishes for.
