ICE to Require Body Cameras During Vehicle Stops Following Fatal Encounters

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will require its officers to utilize body-worn cameras during vehicle stops, a top administration official said Sunday, following a pair of recent fatal shootings by federal agents that have intensified scrutiny of the agency's enforcement tactics. Tom Homan, the Trump administration's border czar, spoke about the directive during an appearance on Fox News' Fox & Friends, stating that ICE leadership has ordered at least one officer to record video during traffic operations as the agency accelerates a nationwide rollout of the technology. The policy shift follows the fatal shootings of a Colombian delivery driver in Biddeford, Maine, on July 13, and a Mexican national in Houston on July 7. Neither incident was captured on body camera, fueling public protests and demands for greater transparency amid the administration's broader mass deportation campaign. "The director of ICE put out instructions that whenever possible, that at least one body camera be worn," Homan said, arguing that the technology primarily protects law enforcement. "They exonerate more law enforcement than they convict, and I want officers wear body cameras because I want the American people see what the officer saw when they took that action." Expansion Amid Mounting Scrutiny. The recent fatalities are part of a broader rise in lethal encounters involving federal immigration authorities. At least six people have been killed during ICE enforcement actions since January 2025, according to data tracked by Newsweek. The lack of video evidence from the Texas and Maine encounters quickly turned the agency's camera policies into a central point of contention. While ICE initially suspended most vehicle stops to review its safety procedures following the shootings, President Donald Trump quickly ordered agents to resume the practice, calling traffic stops a vital enforcement tool. According to Homan, who also appeared on CBS News' Face the Nation on Sunday, the cameras have already been purchased, and personnel training is underway for a comprehensive nationwide deployment. He contended that body-worn cameras offer a definitive perspective that bystander or surveillance footage cannot replicate. "You can have something with a cell phone camera across the street," Homan said on Fox & Friends. "You can have city cameras that they can show you different things, but nothing's going to match what the officer saw just before he took that action." ICE originally launched a pilot program for body-worn cameras in 2024, deploying them to select teams in Baltimore, Buffalo, Detroit, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. However, a wider expansion had previously stalled due to federal funding disputes and partisan gridlock over immigration enforcement resources. A Timeline of Fatal Federal Agent-Related Shootings: July 7, 2026, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, 52, Location: Houston. The DHS recently told Newsweek that Araujo, a Mexican national, had died from his injuries in hospital after he was shot by a federal agent. ICE agents had been trying to arrest Araujo, but he had attempted to evade officers, a DHS spokesperson said. "From information we are receiving, he rammed an ICE law enforcement vehicle, refused to follow multiple verbal commands, and weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run over an ICE law enforcement officer resulting in our officer firing his weapon in self-defense," a spokesperson told Newsweek, adding that the FBI was investigating the incident. July 13, 2026, Joan Sebastian Duran Guerrero, 25, Location: Biddeford, Maine. An ICE officer fired his weapon "fearing for public safety" as Guerrero, in a vehicle, "attempted to flee the scene," the DHS said in a statement. He was not the target of the enforcement operation. The married father of a 3-year-old daughter was legally authorized to work in the United States, according to government officials, the Maine Immigrants' Rights Coalition, and Presente! Maine. FBI Will Continue Investigating ICE Encounters. Separately on Sunday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the DHS pushed back against reports suggesting the FBI would no longer investigate violent confrontations involving ICE personnel. In a joint statement emailed to Newsweek, the agencies said claims of a policy change were "false" and emphasized that the relationship between DHS and DOJ regarding investigations of assaults on federal officers "has not changed." The statement added that the FBI "will continue to investigate in accordance with agency policy."