ICE Body Camera Deployment Stalled After Government Shutdown, Officials Say

ICE agents involved in recent fatal shootings in Texas and Maine were not equipped with body-worn cameras. Congress appropriated $20 million for DHS body cameras in April, yet the devices have not been issued to the field offices where the incidents occurred.

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The funding for body cameras was included in a $120 million budget line that was delayed by two consecutive Democratic-led government shutdowns. The “Big Beautiful Bill” reconciliation package later authorized the purchase, and a deployment schedule has been placed on the books. ICE received $75 billion in supplemental funding under the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” the previous year, but the body-camera rollout remains incomplete.

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Tom Homan, the Department of Homeland Security’s “border czar,” told reporters that the shutdown prevented the agency from placing orders for the cameras despite the appropriated funds. The Department of Homeland Security later told the Associated Press that Houston officers lacked body cameras because of “back-to-back Democrat shutdowns.”

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Homan attributed the delay to Democratic actions, arguing that the rollout would have been faster without the shutdowns. He emphasized the urgency of deploying cameras following the recent shootings and suggested that the funding was ready but the procurement was stalled by the political impasse.

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• “The Democrats shut down the Department of Homeland Security. I was up on the Hill as part of the negotiating team to reopen the government. And they wanted body cameras,” — Tom Homan, DHS border czar

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• “There was $120 million in the budget they were holding up to buy those body cameras. Now, since the Big Beautiful Bill passed, now the reconciliation bill, the body cameras have been ordered; there’s a deployment schedule on the books.” — Tom Homan

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• “It is urgent,” — Tom Homan

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• “As soon as they had the funding, they bought them.” — Tom Homan

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• “The officers involved in the incident in Houston had not been issued body-worn cameras due to back-to-back Democrat shutdowns,” — Department of Homeland Security statement

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