Immigration and Customs Enforcement told a nonprofit watchdog this week that it had found “no records” of body camera footage produced during its sweeping immigration enforcement operation in Chicago, raising concerns that it was skirting laws intended to ensure transparency and accountability.
The assertion, contained in a response to a public information request from the Freedom of the Press Foundation, contradicted the Trump administration’s sworn court testimony and the fact that it had previously submitted video footage to a judge. The response also raised questions about whether the administration is fully complying with a court order that required the use of body cameras in the monthslong operation, which has included a string of allegations of excessive force.
“Sometimes a no response is more telling than having records” from a public information request, said Anne Weismann, who oversaw records litigations at the Justice Department at the end of her two decades at the department. “And this may be one of those cases.”
In a letter dated Tuesday, ICE told the Freedom of the Press Foundation that “no records responsive to your request were found.” The foundation had requested “all body-worn camera footage” taken as part of “Operation Midway Blitz,” which was announced in September. Judge Sara L. Ellis, of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, had mandated that agents, including ones at ICE, wear body cameras beginning in October.
Experts in public records laws say such a response is a troubling sign that the Trump administration may be trying to evade public oversight mechanisms. Its immigration enforcement agencies are accused of violating civil liberties and state laws while they strive to meet the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation goal of one million people per year.
The response “indicates that ICE continues to feel increasing impunity” as an agency “exempt from accountability,” said Lauren Harper, who advocates for government transparency at the nonprofit. “It is extremely implausible that ICE does not have any of this footage — it just strikes me as beyond the pale.”
Neither ICE, in its letter, nor the Department of Homeland Security, in a response to questions from The New York Times, directly explained why the letter said there were no records of body camera footage even though administration lawyers had submitted such clips to Judge Ellis.
ICE’s letter implied that such records might be shielded, citing some exemptions to open records laws, including ones on national security, ongoing criminal investigations and information that can expose government informants’ identity. Ms. Weismann said the requested records did not qualify for such exemptions “under any reasonable interpretation.”
But in an emailed statement, the Homeland Security Department seemed to imply that such footage might not even exist, emphasizing the limits of the body camera requirements, saying they applied only to immigration agents who already had cameras and had been trained to use them.
“The premise of your story is false and overly simplifies the court’s relevant order,” the department said in its statement. “ICE never violated the court order.”
The limited known camera footage in the operation has already caused legal problems for the Trump administration. Judge Ellis used the clips submitted to her to rule that officers acted illegally with excessive force.
The letter also arrived as the Homeland Security Department and the Trump administration have faced repeated questions on their willingness to abide by public records laws.
In August, the department rebuffed a request for public records related to the National Guard deployment in Los Angeles this summer, saying that the agency had not maintained text message data among top officials since early April. The agency later attributed the lapse in data storage to its decision to stop using software that automatically captured officials’ text message data and instead to require officials to manually take screenshots of their messages for compliance.
Under the Federal Records Act, government agencies are required to preserve all documentation that officials and federal workers produce while executing their duties, and they have to make federal records available to the public under the Freedom of Information Act unless they fall under certain exemptions.
In February, ICE published a 20-page memo on body cameras, which acknowledges that clips from the cameras are subject to public releases and that those recordings “may also promote public trust.”
Ms. Harper of the Freedom of the Press Foundation said the law required that the administration release body camera footage to the public after receiving a records request, even if it withheld or redacted portions of those clips on legitimate grounds.
“They are trolling citizens and judges,” Ms. Harper said of administration officials. “It indicates that ICE continues to feel increasing impunity and that it has the right to behave as a secret police that’s exempt from accountability.”
Minho Kim reports on breaking news for The Times from Washington.
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