ICE would need more money to expand use of bodycams in Chicago crackdown, official says

Shawn Byers, deputy field office director for ICE, said no cameras have been worn by ICE agents working at a facility in Broadview that has been the site of protests.

CHICAGO — Many federal officers assigned to immigration enforcement in the Chicago area have body cameras but Congress would have to allocate more funds to expand their use, officials testified Monday at a hearing about the tactics agents are using in Trump administration's crackdown, which has produced more than 1,000 arrests.

U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis last week ordered uniformed agents to wear cameras, if available, and turn them on when engaged in arrests, frisks and building searches or when being deployed to protests. She held a hearing Monday at which she questioned a U.S. Customs and Border Protection official and a U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement official about the operation and complaints that agents are increasingly using combative tactics.

Kyle Harvick, deputy incident commander with CBP, said Border Patrol agents who are part of Operation Midway Blitz have cameras. He said 201 are in the Chicago area.

But Shawn Byers, deputy field office director for ICE, said more money from Congress would be needed to expand camera use beyond two of that agency's field offices. He said no cameras have been worn by ICE agents working at a building in Broadview, outside Chicago, where immigrants pass through before being detained elsewhere. It's been the site of protests that at times have been tumultuous.

Byers also explained that while there are surveillance cameras outside the ICE facility, they record over previous footage every 28 days. Ellis expressed surprise when Byers said that meant footage from before Sept. 18 was gone. The Broadview facility became a focus of protesters after Operation Midway Blitz began in early September.