GAO Finds ICE Issued No Reprimands for Body-Camera Violations, Rejects Automatic Activation Fix

A Government Accountability Office report made public Oct. 14 recommends that ICE adopt technology to automatically activate body cameras whenever officers draw a weapon, matching a practice Customs and Border Protection already uses. GAO found that at six of ten ICE and CBP sites it reviewed, staff were unsure when cameras had to be turned on, and that ICE issued no written reprimands for camera-policy violations from the program's launch through September 2025, compared with one by CBP.

DHS accepted six of GAO's seven recommendations but rejected automatic activation, saying it "presents significant operational risks, including inadvertent or false activations" that could capture informants, victims or constitutionally protected activity. GAO responded that DHS offered no alternative safeguard against losing footage of critical, force-involved encounters. Camera-use plans for both agencies were last updated years before recent funding changes and enforcement pauses.

A DHS spokesperson said ICE has acquired cameras to outfit its entire workforce and that training is ongoing and expected to finish soon. DHS did not say when, if ever, it would reconsider automatic activation.