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WASHINGTON — The Justice Department is demanding testimony before a Florida grand jury in an investigation aiming to establish an intelligence community conspiracy against President Trump, according to multiple people familiar with the matter.

New subpoenas being issued to former government officials represent an escalation in the yearlong investigation as the Justice Department pursues a loosely defined theory that members of the intelligence community who scrutinized Trump over the last decade, including over Russian interference in the 2016 election, conspired against him and violated his rights.

Investigators in recent days contacted some defense lawyers for witnesses advising them of forthcoming grand jury subpoenas. It was not clear how many, as of Tuesday, had received a subpoena or were still waiting to receive one, and the identities of the witnesses receiving subpoenas were also not immediately clear. The people who confirmed the subpoenas spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a secretive grand jury investigation.

The investigation has focused in large part on the Trump-Russia probe

The contours of the conspiracy investigation aren’t fully known, but agents and prosecutors over the last several months have focused intensely on one of Trump’s chief grievances: the U.S. government response to Russian interference in 2016 and an intelligence community assessment that Moscow meddled on Trump’s behalf at the direction of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trump, who spent much of his first term shadowed by an investigation into whether his campaign colluded with Russia to sway the outcome of the election, has for years lashed out at the intelligence community finding and cast it as a “deep state” conspiracy to undermine the legitimacy of his win.

Investigators searching for potential crimes in connection with the intelligence community response have conducted numerous voluntary interviews, but the subpoenas prepared for witnesses in recent days represent an apparent effort to lock down sworn testimony before a grand jury.

It remains unclear whether anyone will be charged or for what offense, though lawyers for former CIA Director John Brennan have said they have been informed that he is a target as investigators examine whether he falsely testified to Congress — something he has repeatedly denied. The Justice Department last spring subpoenaed witnesses before a Washington grand jury as part of an investigation into Brennan but swiftly withdrew the subpoenas in favor of voluntary interviews.

The investigation is being run out of Florida, with the Justice Department in April bringing back into government service a top prosecutor from the Reagan administration, Joe diGenova, to serve as a counselor to the attorney general and help lead a team of agents and prosecutors.

DiGenova, who had previously asked then-Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi to appoint him to the job and has openly and repeatedly claimed Trump was the victim of an intelligence community conspiracy, declined to comment Wednesday when reached by the Associated Press.

In an indication of the wide-ranging nature of the investigation, the AP reported last month that DiGenova’s team has sought interviews with law enforcement officials involved in the 2022 FBI search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property in Palm Beach, Fla., which recovered a trove of classified documents.

Concerns from defense lawyers about a ‘favored’ judge

Investigators have set up shop in Fort Pierce, Fla., the home court of U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, the Trump-appointed jurist who repeatedly appeared skeptical of the classified documents case against him and ultimately dismissed it after concluding that the prosecutor who filed the charges was illegally appointed.

Lawyers for Brennan last year asked the chief judge of the federal court in Florida to prevent the investigation from being steered to Cannon, whom they described as a “favored” Trump judge. They have since sued the Trump administration, demanding a court order requiring prosecutors to preserve records from the investigation so that Brennan could challenge any potential prosecution of him as vindictive.

Trump came to office in 2017 under scrutiny from the intelligence and law enforcement community about whether his successful campaign had colluded with Russia, which stole politically damaging Democratic emails and orchestrated their release through WikiLeaks as part of a wide-ranging interference scheme.

The FBI and Justice Department investigated but found insufficient evidence to prove a criminal conspiracy between Russia and the Trump campaign, though investigators did find the campaign eagerly hoped to benefit from Moscow’s help.

Subsequent investigations by an inspector general and Justice Department prosecutors identified errors by agents who conducted the Russia probe but found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing by senior law enforcement officials or an anti-Trump conspiracy like what prosecutors are now hoping to prove.

Deeply frustrated by those outcomes, Trump has amplified his demands for retribution, which the Justice Department heeded last year by directing that prosecutors utilize a grand jury. Last year, Bondi directed prosecutors to put evidence before a grand jury after the release of documents aimed at calling into question the legitimacy of the Trump-Russia inquiry.

Tucker writes for the Associated Press.

Authorities say agent fired into home with people inside, lied about circumstances.

Federal prosecutors in the United States have charged an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer accused of lying under oath to investigators regarding the shooting of a Venezuelan man during an immigration crackdown this year.

Prosecutors alleged that Christian Castro lied to federal investigators about the events that led up to him firing on 24-year-old Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis through the door of a Minnesota home in January.

The Associated Press news agency and The New York Times reported the indictment, quoting a person familiar with the matter who was not authorised to discuss the investigation publicly. It was expected to be unsealed when Castro is detained.

Castro, a former Department of Homeland Security agent, also faces multiple state felony charges in Minnesota related to the nonfatal shooting, including assault with a dangerous weapon.

Authorities in the Midwestern state had sought to extradite Castro from Texas to face trial. Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican and President Donald Trump loyalist, declined to cooperate with the request.

The ensuing standoff left Castro detained in Texas for 90 days before his release last week. Under Texas law, the state cannot hold the subject of an extradition order for longer than that. His whereabouts were unclear as of Thursday.

The charges mark a rare move by the Department of Justice under Trump.

Trump’s top officials have repeatedly argued that immigration agents maintain broad protections while conducting enforcement, a position rejected by many legal experts.

For example, no one has been charged in the fatal shootings by immigration agents of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis in January.

An Associated Press review conducted in February found about two dozen ICE employees and contractors had faced criminal charges since 2020.

An American Civil Liberties Union report released in July documented instances of violent tactics or other civil rights violations in about a third of 1,200 immigration enforcement incidents reviewed in 2025 alone.

Video evidence contradicts statement

The Trump administration distanced itself from the Castro case after video emerged contradicting the agent’s initial accounts of the confrontation.

Castro told investigators that Sosa-Celis had attacked him, which the surveillance footage showed did not happen.

Todd Lyons, then acting head of ICE, said at the time that the footage “has revealed that sworn testimony provided by two separate officers appears to have made untruthful statements”.

Castro and a fellow agent chased Alfredo Aljorna, a Venezuelan national, after a traffic stop, according to charging documents.

Aljorna fled to the home he shared with Sosa-Celis. After a brief scramble, the two men ran inside. Castro then shot through the closed door, “knowing [the home] was occupied by several people”, the documents said.

One witness said there were two children in the house when Castro opened fire. Sosa-Celis was hit in the leg.

Federal authorities have since suspended Castro and dropped all charges against Sosa-Celis and his co-defendant, who were both initially accused of forcibly assaulting an ICE officer. The other agent involved in the incident was also suspended, but has not yet been charged.

Thursday’s indictment comes after ProPublica this week reported that Department of Justice (DOJ) officials had blocked prosecutors from pursuing more serious civil rights charges against Castro, including “deprivation of rights under color of law”.

However, a source close to the investigation told the AP the active investigation could still result in civil rights charges.

The Trump administration has scaled back the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division and dismantled several Biden-era police oversight initiatives since returning to office in January 2025.

That has come as the administration has revved up its mass deportation campaign across the country.

In August, immigration agents detained 50,925 people with the Department of Homeland Security hailing it as a new record for the “highest number of illegal aliens arrested in a single month”.

ICE agent Christian Castro faces criminal charges for shooting a Minnesota man in the leg during an immigration raid.

A United States judge has denied a request to compel the extradition of a federal immigration agent charged with shooting a man during an immigration raid in the state of Minnesota and lying about it.

Wednesday’s decision concerns the case of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent Christian Castro, who has been detained in a county jail in Texas since May.

Minnesota has sought his extradition as he faces charges of assault and falsely reporting a crime in Hennepin County, which covers Minneapolis.

Under Texas law, the state cannot hold the subject of an extradition order for more than 90 days. At that point, the suspect must either be transferred or released. The deadline for Castro is set to expire on Thursday.

Minnesota argued in a lawsuit this month that Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, has refused to authorise the extradition for political reasons.

But in Wednesday’s ruling, Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr wrote that he could not intervene because Abbott has not yet acted – and has therefore not yet violated any law.

“The record reflects only that Governor Abbott has neither agreed nor refused to sign the rendition warrant as to Castro,” Rodriguez wrote.

Castro has been charged in connection with the non-fatal shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis during an immigration raid in Minnesota on January 14, part of a mass deportation effort under President Donald Trump.

Starting in December, Trump oversaw a large-scale deployment of federal agents to the Midwestern state, dubbed Operation Metro Surge.

The operation, which lasted less than three months, sparked protests and allegations of civil liberty violations from residents and watchdog groups.

Prosecutors say Castro fired a gun through the front door of a Minneapolis home, shooting Sosa-Celis in the leg.

Afterwards, he and another agent accused Sosa-Celis and another man of assaulting federal authorities with a broom handle and snow shovel. Those allegations were later disproven after video of the incident emerged. Criminal charges against Sosa-Celis were subsequently dropped.

Todd Lyons, then-acting director of ICE, confirmed in February that the agents appeared to have made “untruthful statements”. Castro and the second agent were placed on administrative leave.

Castro is currently in custody in Brownsville, Texas. Minnesota officials have warned that he may flee the country if released, citing calls he made from jail to a woman in Mexico.

During those calls, Castro talked “about marrying her and buying a house in Mexico when he is released”, according to Minnesota’s lawsuit.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison filed a request for a temporary restraining order last week to stop Castro’s anticipated release and force Governor Abbott to sign the extradition warrant.

Ellison has framed Abbott’s decision not to take action as a way of supporting Trump’s mass deportation campaign and skirting federal extradition law.

“For nearly three months, Greg Abbott has refused to return ICE agent Christian Castro to Minnesota, where he’s charged with shooting a Minnesotan in his own home,” Ellison wrote in a social media post.

“Abbott has a legal obligation to return him. Instead, he’s chosen to ignore the law.”

Aug. 20 (UPI) — Spanish band La Oreja de Van Gogh will receive the Agent of Change award for three decades of commitment to social causes during Premios Juventud, which will hold its first European edition Sept. 3 in Marbella, Spain, TelevisaUnivision announced.

The group will also make its performance debut at the awards show with “Rosas,” one of its best-known songs. The track surpassed 1 billion streams on Spotify in February, according to their record label, Sony Music.

Organizers said the award recognizes the band’s participation in initiatives including “Guitarras Solidarias,” which helped people affected by flooding in Spain, as well as the anti-cancer campaign “Cadena 100 Por Ellas” and “Ay Haití,” which was created to raise money after the 2010 earthquake.

La Oreja de Van Gogh is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year following the return of original lead singer Amaia Montero, who rejoined the band in 2025 after nearly two decades. The group began a tour of Spain titled “Tantas cosas que contar” in May.

Montero is joined in the band’s latest chapter by Xabi San Martín, Álvaro Fuentes and Haritz Garde. Founding guitarist Pablo Benegas announced he would not participate in the tour to devote more time to his family and other projects, although he has not permanently left the group, El País reported.

The band is also nominated for Favorite Group or Duo of the Year and Best Euro-Song.

TelevisaUnivision also announced that Alleh, Camila Fernández, Eladio Carrión, Elena Rose and Silvestre Dangond have joined the ceremony’s lineup.

Alleh and Rose will perform their collaboration “Tututu” on television for the first time. Rose will also perform “Quién Contra Mí” and join Dangond for the first live performance of “Efectos Secundarios.”

Carrión will perform “Polaroid” and “Body,” while Fernández will perform “Suéltame.” Dangond will also sing “Cásate Conmigo.”

Premios Juventud will air live from Starlite Marbella on Univision, UNIMÁS, Galavisión, ViX and YouTube at 7 p.m. EDT, 6 p.m. CDT and 4 p.m. PDT. In Mexico, Canal 5 will broadcast the ceremony at 5 p.m. local time.

A federal investigation into former Rep. Eric Swalwell appeared to gain steam this week after agents seized his electronic devices and raided his Washington home over the weekend, even briefly holding the former lawmaker at San Francisco International Airport, a person familiar with the inquiry told The Times.

Swalwell dropped out of the California governor’s race and resigned from Congress in April after allegations that he sexually assaulted a former staffer and acted inappropriately with other young women, which he denied at the time. Before dropping out of the race, polls indicated that Swalwell was the front-runner.

The source said Swalwell was held on Saturday at SFO and released the same day he was detained for search purposes. Federal prosecutors are using civil rights law to pursue a probe of his conduct as a member of Congress. Authorities in New York and Los Angeles County are conducting separate investigations.

His home was searched on Sunday by federal agents, the source added, based on a search warrant in connection with a civil rights investigation concerning the sexual assault allegations.

Swalwell has denied any wrongdoing, but the accusations upended the California governor’s race and shook Capitol Hill, where both parties reckoned with a culture of secrecy and silence around sexual impropriety.

Another accuser, Lonna Drewes, said at a news conference that she was drugged and raped by the one-time politician in 2018 in Beverly Hills. Drewes said she met Swalwell three times as she was growing her fashion software company and toying with the idea of a political career.

On the third occasion, Drewes said she believes that Swalwell drugged her glass of wine. She said they were supposed to go to a political event and stopped by his hotel room to retrieve some paperwork.

She said she found herself incapacitated despite having had only one drink.

“He raped me and he choked me and while he was choking me I lost consciousness and I thought I died,” she said. “I did not consent to any sexual activity.”

Sara Azari, an attorney for Swalwell, denied Drewes’ characterization of the incident at the time. “Two adults consenting, which is our position, is not against the law,” she said.

The former staffer for Swalwell told the San Francisco Chronicle that Swalwell began sending her nude pictures on Snapchat and messages after she was hired by his office in 2019. She was 21 at the time.

In September of that year, she said she had drinks with the congressman, blacked out and woke up naked in Swalwell’s hotel bed, according to the Chronicle.

In 2024, when she no longer worked for Swalwell, she said she attended a charity event honoring the congressman and met him for drinks afterward. She was intoxicated but recalled Swalwell forcing himself upon her, and pushing him away and saying, “No,” according to the Chronicle.

Azari said in April that he denied all allegations of sexual misconduct and assault and would pursue “every legal remedy” against those making the claims.

“These accusations are false, fabricated and deeply offensive — a calculated and transparent political hit job designed to destroy the reputation of a man who has spent twenty years in public service,” Azari said.

Winton reported from Los Angeles, Smith from Sacramento and Wilner from Washington.

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota Atty. Gen. Keith Ellison sued Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday, seeking to compel the extradition of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent to stand trial for assault and falsely reporting a crime in the wounding of a man during the agency’s crackdown in Minneapolis.

Ellison said he would request a temporary restraining order barring the Cameron County Sheriff’s Office in Texas from releasing ICE agent Christian Castro and requiring Abbott to sign the extradition warrant allowing Minnesota law enforcement agents to take custody of him.

Castro was arrested 11 days after Minneapolis prosecutors charged him with assault and falsely reporting a crime in the Jan. 14 nonfatal shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis. The criminal complaint alleges that Castro fired a gun at the front door of a home in Minneapolis, striking a victim in the leg before lodging in a child’s bedroom wall, and then knowingly provided false information to an officer about it.

Ellison said at a news conference that unless he’s extradited, Castro faces release from jail next week — 90 days since he was detained — under Texas law, and could flee the U.S. from the border town where he’s being held.

“Christian Castro has been charged with breaking the law in Minnesota,” Ellison said. “He must face justice in Minnesota. Gov. Abbott should have granted Gov. Walz’s extradition request long ago and is required to do so now.”

“Christian Castro is not above the law and Greg Abbott isn’t either,” Ellison added.

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said the legal action taken Tuesday to compel Castro’s extradition “should be a completely unnecessary lawsuit.” Officials at the jail and local prosecutors in Texas have been “very cooperative,” she said — “it is not supposed to be controversial.”

She said that since Castro’s arrest, Texas has extradited three unrelated criminal defendants without incident to Minnesota at the request of state authorities.

Gov. Abbott has received communication with us on an ongoing basis, including recently,” Ellison said. “We have to take the position that they are refusing to honor the extradition request.”

Vancleave writes for the Associated Press.

WASHINGTON  — Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to buy thousands of special gloves that would allow agents to administer electronic shocks — a tactic the gloves’ manufacturer describes as a non-lethal “soft empty hand” for controlling people.

But videos posted by the manufacturer, Compliant Technologies of Richmond, Ky., show that the effects of the gloves are anything but soft.

In one video, the CTG-5 G.L.O.V.E — an acronym for Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter — easily brings a strapping man in military fatigues down to his knees in less than a second.

The glove caused another man’s leg muscles to spasm, although the shock, applied on a forearm, was advertised as being strictly localized.

The videos were taken at defensive weapon exhibitions all around the U.S. Frequently, the volunteers who get zapped will yelp as they collapse limply down on a soft mat.

“That sucked! That was terrible,” one man said after going through a demonstration.

“It does suck. But, it sucks a lot less than other options,” the caption from Compliant Technologies reads.

Civil rights organizations say they fear that ICE agents — who have been widely criticized for harsh tactics and fatal shootings — are being given yet another weapon for their already packed arsenal to intimidate the public.

“There is a trust in law enforcement with extreme power over human life, because you believe the people you’re entrusting are trained and they’re careful,” said Naureen Shah, director of policy and government affairs in immigration with the American Civil Liberties Union. “ICE has broken that trust with the public… the mission is simply to scare.”

According to a notice published Monday by the Department of Homeland Security, there is a plan to purchase $10 million to $20 million worth of shock gloves. The plan was first reported by the Associated Press.

John Sandweg, a former acting ICE director under the Obama administration, questioned the wisdom of equipping agents with the shock glove because the agency has seen a decline in training and oversights during the second Trump administration. (The administration has often said training of agents has not declined.)

“Given the struggles the agency’s having with use of force, to deploy a less-lethal tool, especially when you see the administration really shift their focus to the side of the non-criminal population, it raises massive concerns,” Sandweg said.

Sandweg estimates ICE could purchase 10,000 to 15,000 pairs of gloves.

When sent a list of questions about the devices, which resemble thick work gloves, Compliant Technologies declined to comment. Its website says the gloves are used by law enforcement agencies around the country.

The shock gloves deliver 380 volts, far less than the 1,200 volts typically delivered by traditional tasers, studies say. According to the company website, the glove is designed to disrupt sensory nerves without puncturing or burning the skin.

In a statement, Homeland Security defended the plan to purchase the gloves.

“Every decision is made with careful consideration and appropriately reviewed to make sure that any technology ICE utilizes is consistent with all applicable law enforcement policies and standards,” the department said. “Our officers are highly trained in de-escalation techniques.”

Equipping an agency embroiled in controversy over its occasionally fatal enforcement practices with “sci-fi” technology will likely cause the public to make further efforts to evade ICE agents, instead of becoming more compliant, said Bryanna Fox, criminology professor at the University of South Florida and former FBI agent.

“If the public doesn’t understand it and they don’t trust it, they’re not going to view it as procedurally just,” Fox said. “What they’ll have is fear; they’ll think ‘Am I going to stand there and wait for the ICE to shock me, or am I going to run?’”

On its website, Complaint Technologies says it has tested the G.L.O.V.E on people with cardiovascular problems and pacemakers with no issues. It added that the technology does not interfere at all with heart activity.

However, some civil rights advocates note that Compliant Technologies has advised against using shock gloves on pregnant women, children and people with heart issues.

Shah said she believes that intimidation played a key role in the decision to adopt G.L.O.V.E technologies, adding that their use is meant to dissuade citizens from confronting or even recording ICE agents.

“At a time like this, ICE should be trying to do everything it can to rebuild public trust, to reconstruct itself as a credible law enforcement agency,” Shah said.

Referring to Trump aid Stephen Miller, the administration’s main architect of its immigration crackdown, she added, “Instead, it is spending as many taxpayer dollars as it can, as quickly as it can, to acquire technology to make good on Stephen Miller’s dystopian vision of the United States.”

Immigration and Customs Enforcement is moving to equip officers with body cameras in the next two months, but the agency’s policy gives it broad control over what footage will be made public by specifying any releases must be in its “best interests.”

After years of delays, ICE said its field officers nationwide will have body-worn cameras by the end of September. The rollout comes after recent fatal shootings by officers enforcing President Trump’s immigration crackdown have intensified pressure for accountability that the cameras could provide.

But the agency’s policy could mean taxpayers who are pitching in tens of millions of dollars to pay for the cameras may be kept in the dark about some high-profile confrontations — at least in their immediate aftermath.

The policy says ICE will promptly release video of shootings and other encounters in which its agents cause death or serious injury only after determining “it is in the best interests of the agency” to do so. That gives its director discretion to release recordings that reflect well on the agency’s image while working to keep others secret, experts on body camera policies said.

Such selective releases are routine in some law enforcement agencies but usually not stated so clearly in policy, according to Christopher Schneider, a professor at Brandon University in Canada and a co-author of the book “Police Body-Worn Cameras: Media and the New Discourse of Police Reform.”

“In some ways, ICE is saying the quiet part out loud,” he said. “Body-worn cameras are being used as contemporary image-work tools to present the police to the public in the most favorable way possible.”

The policy requires officers to activate cameras during routine enforcement activities, including while making arrests, executing search warrants and responding to emergencies.

After shootings or other serious confrontations, a committee that includes top ICE officials and lawyers will review footage and recommend whether to release it promptly, according to the body camera policy issued in February 2025.

If the answer is yes, the recording could be released within 72 hours. But if the ICE director finds that “specific and compelling circumstances” justify withholding the video, they have the authority to block or indefinitely delay the release, the policy says.

The policy does not elaborate on such circumstances, and ICE did not respond to a question about how it would make such decisions.

Practices vary widely in the U.S. In Chicago, a police watchdog agency routinely releases body camera video of shootings and other serious use-of-force incidents within 60 days. In Philadelphia, the police department very rarely uses its discretion to release video of specific incidents and has no policy for when to do so.

Even when footage is released, ICE’s policy will require the redaction of all officers’ identifying features such as their faces, names and badge numbers to preserve their privacy.

Schneider, who has studied body cameras since their use began spreading a decade ago, said he does not expect ICE to release footage of fatal shootings like those last month in Houston and Maine.

He noted ICE’s sister agency, Customs and Border Protection, has not released footage of the January shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis even though it was captured on agents’ cameras. CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott told lawmakers in February that the video and other materials were under investigation and would be made public “when it’s appropriate.”

ICE spent $30.9 million in July to purchase body camera equipment from Axon, the Arizona-based company that also manufactures Tasers, according to federal spending records.

The spending began one day after the fatal shooting of a 25-year-old motorist in Maine by an ICE officer with a history of violent behavior. Days earlier, another ICE officer shot and killed a home-builder in Houston who was driving to work.

Neither shooting was recorded with body cameras. That news angered members of Congress, who had given ICE $20 million to purchase body cameras in a bill passed to end a partial government shutdown April 30.

ICE said body cameras have been sent to more than half its field officers and the rest will receive them by the end of September. That timeline pushes back estimates from earlier public statements. Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins, who backed funding for cameras, said last month that the agency informed her they would be deployed by the end of August. ICE had said earlier that they would be issued by mid-September.

ICE officers working in the Houston area, where the agency sent more than 800 cameras, are among those who have started training, according to Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Texas Democrat and member of the House Appropriations Committee.

At least one member of every arrest team will be required to have a camera, the agency said.

“I think the American people need to see what that officer sees and hears,” said White House border czar Tom Homan on July 19 on CBS News’ “Face the Nation.” “And if you look at the data, body cameras actually exonerate agents more than they, you know, provide evidence of wrongdoing.”

ICE began testing body cameras in 2021 during the Biden administration and distributed 1,400 devices three years later, saying use would expand as funding became available.

After returning to office in 2025, President Trump rescinded a Biden order that required federal law enforcement agencies to use body cameras.

ICE did not buy body cameras even after it received a historic $75-billion infusion in Trump’s signature policy bill in 2025 and began hiring thousands of new officers. The two July purchases from Axon were made through an existing government contract that began in 2023, records show.

“This is not hard to deploy, but they’ve slow-rolled it,” said Jason Houser, who was ICE chief of staff under President Biden and helped implement the agency’s pilot program.

Houser said the Trump administration should have equipped officers with body cameras when it expanded mass arrests and traffic stops. Doing so only after several shootings and pressure from Congress “is clearly a political response” that will not make officers or the public safer, he said.

“This doesn’t fix the problem of putting officers in a place where they’re not trained or equipped to carry out the style of operations that the administration is asking them to do,” he said.

Foley writes for the Associated Press. AP reporter Valerie Gonzalez contributed to this report.