Dems want DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to be relieved, but she and Trump are holding firm, at least for now.
I have to think that Noem is at least thinking about her next move, as she is surely hanging on by a thread at this point.
That is why I believe she just caved and agreed to have agents wear and use their bodycams at all times. I also happen to think this is a good thing.
The calls to have Noem impeached or removed have been present nearly since her first day at her post, but they became deafening after the death of Alex Pretti.
Noem was a bit aggressive in how she characterized Pretti, which seemed to be the final straw for many.
For instance, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) stated, “It is also more of the purposeful chaos and violence that Trump and Kristi Noem welcome and are responsible for. Trump and Noem have blood on their hands.”
The irony is that Dems have never addressed the root cause of all this. That being said, Joe Biden has allowed illegal immigrants to pour across our borders for the better part of four years.
In some of the altercations immigration officers have had with protesters, the bodycams were either not on or not even worn. To me, this is a no-brainer.
Noem has finally decided to insist that all agents use them all the time.
Noem posted, “I just spoke with @RealTomHoman @ICEDirector @CBPCommissioner. Effective immediately we are deploying body cameras to every officer in the field in Minneapolis.”
She continued, “As funding is available, the body camera will be expanded nationwide. We will rapidly acquire and deploy body cameras to DHS law enforcement across the country.”
I know a lot of law enforcement, and I don’t know a single one of them who thinks bodycams are a bad thing.
Good cops love them because they provide protection when a complaint is filed against them for wrongdoing. Furthermore, you are no longer relying on someone at the protest, a friend, or a family member of the subject’s social media video to establish what happened.
There have been plenty of studies on this. Bodycams are generally favored by officers, and they have even seen fewer complaints against officers when the cameras are on, as bad guys realize they cannot get away with making up a story if the footage is rolling.
This is a good thing, and with all that money in the big, beautiful bill for DHS, I am sure they can find a way to get a camera on every agent. This should be a priority, not a slow rollout. With all the heat these agents are taking, I would think they would welcome the cameras, if for nothing else than to cover their actions.
