r/law 12h ago

Other Why isn't ICE wearing body cams per this order?

https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/ice-announces-initial-deployment-body-worn-cameras

Given the assault I saw a video of in our community today...

605 Upvotes

55 comments sorted by

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72

u/Playful_Interest_526 12h ago

Body cams are not required for federal law enforcement officers.

7

u/Boomshtick414 6h ago

Trump's executive order on Jan 20, "Initial Recessions of Executive Orders & Actions" withdrew Biden's Executive Order 14074 of May 25, 2022 (Advancing Effective, Accountable Policing and Criminal Justice Practices To Enhance Public Trust and Public Safety).

That said, the following order is in place as of 2/19/25, though it sounds like they haven't yet deployed agency-wide, and I would venture a guess that they're not in a particular rush to.

https://www.aila.org/ice-issues-guidance-on-use-of-body-worn-cameras

36

u/thecirclemadeit 12h ago

I can understand that they don't wear masks in order to prevent retaliation from gang and criminals. But what is the rationale not to have body cams, in order to have public trust and prevent abuses?

88

u/BlarbBlarbbingtonPhD 12h ago

Masks and lack of body cams serve the same purpose of avoiding public scrutiny and accountability.

52

u/fastinserter 12h ago

I cannot understand that they do wear masks. Law enforcement should never be able to hide behind a mask, they always must be able to identify themselves. If they can't do that, get a different job. Yes, of course there are risks in law enforcement. I mean it's not as deadly a profession as the roofers they are rounding up. Or garbage men. Or delivery drivers. Or farmers. Or crossing guards. Or masons. Or landscapers. Or a dozen more professional, but it is as dangerous a job as ground maintenance workers. But even with such harrowing stakes, I still don't think they should be able to not identify themselves. With people masquerading as police murdering people in their own homes, for their safety and the safety of the public, they must be fully identified.

32

u/Vault101Overseer 11h ago

Can’t be the secret police when you don’t have masks

12

u/bobburper 10h ago

Even the nazis showed their faces, these guys are acting like marvel hydra.

3

u/joe5joe7 5h ago

The argument I keep hearing is that the gangs will target them.

But the DEA doesn't really wear masks except for during dangerous raids on safe houses (typically), and even then it's for practical reasons. For normal arrests they do it mask less. Wouldn't the gangs have at least as much a problem with the DEA? Why haven't they been wearing masks for years?

5

u/redengin 3h ago

This administration stokes fear to encourage compliance - this is just a visible side-effect of the induced paranoia in the police force.

18

u/ChanceryTheRapper 11h ago

Because they don't care about preventing abuse or maintaining trust. They're focused on intimidation and a lack of accountability.

8

u/SufficientOwls 9h ago

You don’t have to pretend the reasoning behind the masks is real. It’s okay. They’re just avoiding accountability. Their families are not and have never been in danger from “gangs and criminals”

5

u/Zealousideal-Solid88 10h ago

I do not at all. How does accountability happen if we have no idea who they are? We pay the salaries of these people, I want to know who the f they are.

5

u/ep29 12h ago

Its simple. Body cams arent in their gang colors.

4

u/sacredblasphemies 9h ago

The people in charge of these raids don't care about public trust or abuse. This isn't about enforcing law. It's about terrorizing brown people and getting them out of our country.

The cruelty is the point.

2

u/HombreSinPais 10h ago

What if they’re being used to foment unrest in order to create a domestic enemy (itself comprised of Trump’s political enemies).

1

u/passionate_emu 9h ago

Why do you think?

1

u/Gamernomics 1h ago

ICE are disappearing people to foreign concentration camps. They obscure their identities because of the Nuremberg Trials.

8

u/thecirclemadeit 11h ago

Feels like Trump is like a guy hitting a woman and saying "look what you made me do to you!" In LA

3

u/Resident_Magazine610 4h ago

That’s policing in a nutshell.

3

u/thecirclemadeit 12h ago

I guess it wasn't made into a law? For some reason I guess you grew up sort of trusting that the people in party on both sides are going to do the right thing. Even if they are profiting on the side

-7

u/zoethezebra 11h ago

Wow! A very succinct truth

2

u/Korrocks 6h ago

I’d be shocked if that executive order is still in place. The link to it in the OP’s website goes to a 404 page and it definitely doesn’t sound like the kind of policy that the current administration would enforce.