Last week, Democratic leaders made a list of mostly ridiculous demands that would have to be met for them to agree to fund the Department of Homeland Security. Many of the items were nonstarters the GOP would never agree to. But one actually had bipartisan support: the mandatory use of body cameras. All of a sudden, Democrats aren’t so hot about the idea. But why?
According to Politico, they're suddenly worried these same body cameras could become tools for mass surveillance of protesters.
“Congressional Democratic leaders have made universal use of body cameras one of their prime demands for imposing accountability on Immigration and Customs Enforcement, especially after federal agents fatally shot two American citizens in Minneapolis,” the outlet reported. “But after an outcry from privacy advocates that surveillance tools will allow ICE agents to identify and track protesters, Democrats are also calling for restrictions on how the body cameras can be used.”
Democrats and activists claim ICE uses cameras with license plate readers and facial recognition technology to surveil protesters. The Department of Homeland Security denies this, saying its body cameras lack facial recognition capabilities. Democrats nevertheless worry that images could be downloaded later and run through such systems. Apparently, protecting the privacy of anti-ICE agitators now matters more than protecting the ICE agents actually enforcing the law.
ICYMI: Democrats Just Gave Away the Real Reason They’re Fighting Immigration Enforcement
"Obviously, we want them to be wearing body cameras, but we would want restrictions placed on what that information could be used for,” Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said. “We want to make sure that we have the accountability for how these officers conduct themselves on the streets of our country, but we don't want it in turn to be used as a way of coming back and suppressing free speech."
Something doesn't smell right here.
Republicans had already agreed to the original demand. The House-passed homeland security bill includes $20 million to equip immigration enforcement personnel with body cameras. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced earlier this month that all federal agents in Minneapolis would immediately receive body cameras, with plans to expand the program nationwide once funding is secured.
Is this really a privacy issue? I’m not convinced. Frankly, I think Democrats realized body camera footage would actually protect ICE agents rather than indict them.
"Defund ICE is the same movement and has the same funders and organizers as the 'defund the police' movement,” Lora Ries, director of the Border Security and Immigration Center at The Heritage Foundation, explained last week. “Just as bodycams have helped police defend against false claims made by rent-a-rioters, so too will bodycams help ICE defend against false claims made to obstruct ICE and prevent deportations to protect the Left's political power."
Just this past week, body cam footage exonerated a police officer who shot and wounded a man armed with a knife who lunged at the police officer. That transparency will likely protect the officer from legal repercussions for doing his job. That's the real problem for Democrats. They demanded transparency, Republicans called their bluff, and now they're scrambling because they had an epiphany that body cam footage will likely protect ICE agents from false allegations.
