ICE Says Every Field Agent Will Have a Body Camera By End of September — After Missing Its Last Promise Too

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MARCH 04: A federal agent wears a body camera as they patrol the halls of immigration court at the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building on March 04, 2026 in New York City. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and other federal agencies continue to have a presence in immigration courts as immigrants attend court hearings, as the shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, whose funding lapsed on February 14th. Some federal agents who patrol the 12th and 14th floors of the Federal Plaza building have begun wearing body cameras for the first time in their eight-month presence at the courthouse. (Credit: Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Speaking to reporters at a Tuesday press event in New York, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin put a date on it: every ICE agent working the field, he said, should be wearing a body camera by month's end. Asked directly whether the rollout remained on schedule, Mullin hedged: "We're getting close... I'm pretty sure we will be there." He also said the agency is testing fixed, permanently mounted cameras as a backup option, and that Motorola is retrofitting the radio microphones agents already carry so the devices can double as recorders, a fix he plans to discuss directly with Motorola's chief executive this week.

A second deadline, same unanswered questions