Mr. Chair, in its report accompanying this bill, the Appropriations
Committee states that: ``ICE is currently evaluating the use of body-
worn cameras for potential use in its field enforcement activities, and
notes that such cameras can be important tools for both holding law
enforcement personnel accountable and for exonerating officers accused
of wrongdoing.''
My amendment would support ICE's use of body-worn cameras by
providing $10 million exclusively for ICE to deploy this technology. The citizens of this country have come to expect law enforcement
officers to wear body cameras even when
enforcing immigration laws, and law enforcement agencies throughout the
country are quickly adopting this technology. Body-worn cameras are widely supported, because they are important
tools that improve officer interactions with the public, deescalate
conflicts, and improve public trust in law enforcement, but this tool
is expensive, so we need to provide the resources ICE needs to get its
program up and running. The $10 million in this amendment mirrors the amount of money I am
requesting for border patrol agent cameras. Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.
Keywords matched
immigration border patrol