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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.

Video content looks seamless as DJI’s new Osmo Pocket 4P delivers footage as smooth as a Hollywood film set

For years, content creators have had to switch between a lightweight pocket gimbal for wide travel shots or lug around heavy cameras and lenses to get natural background blur and cinematic portraits. Now there’s a much more agile alternative.

DJI has just done the unthinkable, bundling a dual-lens cinematic camera system into a lightweight, nimble gimbal. As it launches the Osmo Pocket 4p, it makes both wide-angle and portrait filming accessible in one device so users can forget any extra lenses or multiple cameras.

It is wider and weighs more than its older sibling, but it packs in a lot more features. Having tested it myself, I’m sure these tiny setbacks are qualities the average user will quickly forget about. Well, I certainly did.

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I was wowed by its lightweight, insanely sharp camera quality and stabilisation. I didn’t have to worry about jerkiness of my content, how quickly I was moving or speed, immediately it was easier to use than the Osmo Mobile Gimbal I’ve had since 2018, a similar model can be bought here at Argos.

The 4P features are hugely beneficial to travel content creators, daily vloggers, and even mobile creators like myself. I’ve been testing it for the last two weeks – filming product reviews, scenery captures on evening walks and pieces to camera. The biggest test was in my dad’s old VW Beetle, which I purposefully did to trial the stabilisation, fluidity, and excess surrounding noise cancellation.

DJI Osmo Pocket 4P

The Osmo Pocket 4P is a content-altering gadget for vloggers, TikTokers and even mobile news teams. The multi-purpose bundles a dual camera and gimbal in one pocketable device.

• Exceptionally smooth content that glides on screen
• 3-Axis gimbal
• Dual camera system
• Easy to navigate settings and switching formats
• Light and nimble
• The quality of the footage is noticeable straight away

• The travel pouch is too small to fit all accessories on the go
• Heavier than the Osmo Pocket 4

Where to buy the DJI Osmo Pocket 4P

The DJI Osmo Pocket 4P starts at £529 for the standard combo, which includes the camera, foldable light, carry pouch, handle, and cables. For the added perk of the DJI Mini Mic 2 Transmitter, Osmo Frame Tap, Mini Tripod and carrying bag, there’s the Vlog Combo for £605 – this is out of stock on DJI but is available currently at Currys.

Other retailers which stock both bundles include Amazon , Joybuy and photography shops Clifton Cameras , Park Cameras, and Camera World. Vlogging bundles are notorious for selling out – especially if they tick all camera, sound, stability, and light boxes in one buy (just look at the Canon G7X). I wouldn’t be surprised if DJI’s Pocket 4Ps are all snapped up quickly, too.

If that price is too steep, I’d buy the accessories separately. Both the light and Mini Mic 2 noticeably boosted the quality of the videos I filmed – the standout was the mic. Alternatively, and a big rival to the Osmo Pocket 4P, there is the Insta360 Luna Ultra which costs £649.

Impressive tech: Stable and fluid at the same time

I know, it being stable and fluid at the same time sounds contradictory, but the thing I was most impressed with is the stability of the gimbal, yet it’s easy to move, and the content looks seamless. This is mainly thanks to DJI’s 3-axis stabilisation and intelligent subject tracking.

It’s also effortless to do, I didn’t need to go into settings or spend ages tapping an area in focus on the screen. It did it all for me. The Active Tracking 8.0 is another handy upgrade, which keeps subjects on quick-moving scenery footage in focus and boosts the quality of content when filming solo pieces-to-camera.

Gestures are fluid, and tapping the screen keeps a desired subject in frame at all times as the camera subtly tracks it. This is what I used when filming myself in the car at 60mph; I didn’t fall out of frame once. Even while moving between 40 and 60 Mph in an old retro car (on a windy country road), the videos stayed smooth and with no jerky movements.

Of course, all of this is captured in high-end 4K with up to 240 FRPS. Photos can be taken in 4K Live too, and users can capture crystal clear detail with the 37MP camera.

A simple flick of the screen turns the device on and initiates instant filming. The same notion can be used from landscape to portrait, too. Content creators on Instagram and TikTok may be more fussed for portrait filming, again, a super easy flick of the screen back will adjust the layout – just cancel the off timer countdown.

“More typically found in high-end cinema cameras, these professional filmmaking capabilities can effortlessly handle high-contrast scenes like city nightscapes, sunsets, and backlit portraits,” as DJI explained in their launch.

However, there were times when I had to re-centre the gimbal by double-clicking the left button. This is easy to do, but it happened more than I was expecting.

Transferring content and battery boost

One of the most important things is that transferring content works really well. No one wants to be waiting hours for a video for a TikTok clip to transfer; the same applies to work clips, a YouTube Vlog, or family footage. I did this on the go; it took a matter of seconds to connect my phone to the DJI device and download the footage. All you need is the DJI app.

This was all made easier with the comfort of having a strong battery. With all the gadgets and mic attachments, there was no need for added charging. One time this was noticeable, I filmed in the car from 100% for 30 minutes nonstop, and it dropped to 60%.

Buy the DJI Osmo Pocket 4P here.

A leopard storms into a store in Rajasthan, India, attacking an employee and causing panic. The leopard was trapped, tranquilised and returned to the wild.

PHOENIX — For decades, all that separated the U.S. from Mexico was barbed wire.

Now, after a massive infusion of cash from Congress, President Trump’s administration is swiftly building what it has dubbed a “smart wall,” a combination of 30-foot-tall steel fencing and an array of sophisticated technology like sensors, cameras and towers allowing Border Patrol to surveil the territory.

The wall is under heavy scrutiny for the billions of dollars being dedicated to it when border crossings are at their lowest in decades. Critics say the U.S. is militarizing the border as it increasingly deploys sophisticated surveillance technology to the area, impacting local communities.

“We are seeing a massive expansion of surveillance and surveillance technology across the borderlands,” said Ricky Garza, border policy counsel at the Southern Border Communities Coalition, an advocacy group. “The wall in all its forms is harmful to communities.”

Officials say the technology is complementary to the physical wall and frees up agents for other tasks.

“It’s a smart wall. It’s not just a barrier,” Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott said during recent congressional testimony. “It maximizes the use of our most valuable resource, which is our agents.”

Contracts for hundreds of miles of wall already inked

The wall has been a top priority for Trump, a Republican, since he first ran for president.

During the administration of President Joe Biden, a Democrat, the border emerged as a flashpoint, with thousands of people seeking to cross into the country each day. Those numbers started to taper off shortly before Trump returned to office last year and then slowed to a trickle, with his broader immigration crackdown serving as a deterrent for would-be migrants.

Flush with $46 billion to finish the wall after an infusion by Congress for immigration enforcement, CBP is inking tens of billions of dollars in contracts to build the wall and push along the president’s signature project.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said recently that a preliminary part of the wall will be finished by “this time next year.” Scott said his agency is putting up 6 miles of wall a week.

Hundreds of miles had already been built before Trump returned to office. As of mid-June 2026, CBP has erected another 74 miles and aims to build hundreds more. There is no wall planned for roughly 535 miles of the roughly 2,000-mile-long border, because rugged terrain already serves as a barrier. Ground sensors and towers will be used instead.

CBP is also going back to hundreds of miles of already built wall and adding more technology, lights and roads. Along the long stretches of river in Texas that mark the border with Mexico, they’re deploying 12- to 15-foot-long cylinder-shaped buoys meant to keep migrants or smugglers from crossing the border.

More technology being deployed on the border

Technology is playing a greater role in the Trump administration’s effort to make illegal crossings along the border more difficult, part of a broader transformation of CBP in the years since Sept. 11, 2001, into an intelligence operation with a mass surveillance network whose reach extends far beyond the nation’s frontiers, according to reporting by The Associated Press.

And critics say the border technology poses a threat.

The Southern Border Communities Coalition says surveillance technologies can push migrants into more dangerous routes to avoid being detected.

Garza, the group’s policy counsel, warned that surveillance technology infringes on the privacy rights of border residents and that locals have found ground sensors used to detect smuggler or migrant traffic placed on their property without their consent.

Nayda Alvarez and her relatives own land along the Rio Grande roughly 125 miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico. She has found cameras placed on her family’s land, and just last week she spotted a surveillance tower about a quarter of a mile down the river from her house.

“Are we expecting a war or something?” she said. “It doesn’t make me feel safer.”

Dave Maass, director of investigations for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit that focuses on civil liberties related to digital technology, said the technology has made the border area “a hostile environment” for locals and would-be migrants.

The foundation has published a guide on the various types of surveillance towers in use along the southern border designed to help local residents.

These can range from fixed towers with video, infrared and radar technologies that have a range of roughly 8 miles to remote video surveillance systems that have cameras and a spotlight fixed on top. Some are mounted on the backs of trucks so agents can drive them to different parts of the border.

Increasingly, these towers are autonomous. They can scan an area, analyze what they’re seeing using artificial intelligence and alert Border Patrol agents to something suspicious. Proponents say this helps keep Border Patrol agents out in the field instead of sitting in front of computer screens watching for activity. But it also increases AI decision-making along the border when experts have warned about the technology’s potential for bias or other problems.

The big GOP tax cuts and spending bill passed by Congress last summer requires that CBP buys only the autonomous towers, and the department is deploying an additional 95.

Underground, buried fiberoptic cables can sense movement, capturing data that is also then analyzed by AI.

“We follow the contour of the land. We go through trees. We go down into the river banks. We can go absolutely everywhere,” said Magnus McEwen-King, CEO of Sintela, which has a contract with CBP to install the cables. He spoke at a recent border security expo in Phoenix, where some of the technology was on display.

CBP also uses ground sensors and trail cameras to detect smuggling routes.

Concerns over cost and future plans

The nonpartisan watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense has questioned both the huge amounts of money for the wall-building and whether taxpayers are getting their money’s worth.

In 2011, under Democratic President Obama, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano pulled the plug on a project to build a “virtual wall” of integrated technology like radars, sensors and cameras across the entire border after it ran over budget, faced technological glitches and was behind schedule.

Josh Sewell, director of research and policy at Taxpayers for Common Sense, said the organization would like to see more “robust evaluation” of the technologies being used to avoid similar scenarios. And he criticized the Trump administration for lack of oversight on how the money is being spent, a charge CBP has denied, citing “oversight mechanism.”

In the Big Bend area of southern Texas, opposition to the department’s wall-building plans gathered strong bipartisan support especially in the most sensitive areas that run through a state and national park and a wildlife area.

CBP now says it is not planning to build a 30-foot-high bollard wall in those areas. Its recently announced plans include installing patrol roads and some barriers designed to stop cars and using detection technologies.

Clara Benson, who is one of the founders of the No Big Bend Wall coalition, says bright lights in the area designed to illuminate the border could pollute the skies in an area renowned for having some of the best views of the stars. Even without a 30-foot-tall steel wall running through the land, there is concern about CBP’s plans.

“There’s still a lot of fear and dread that the plan is still going to be quite damaging,” she said.

Santana writes for the Associated Press.

Chris, 34, was holidaying in Salou when he filmed the video. He said that some people had been in the queue for an hour

Holidaymakers were filmed in a “manic race” for the prime sunbeds surrounding the pool at a Spanish hotel — after queuing for an hour. Chris, 34, was on holiday in Salou, Spain, last week when he witnessed the spectacle unfold on June 24, as over 40 tourists rushed out.

The holidaymakers had been standing by the doors for an hour before the pool opened at 9am. Chris, from Glasgow, Scotland, said he observed the sun-seekers lining up at the doors on each day of his week-long break.

He said tourists would dash out, reserve a sunbed with their towel and belongings before heading back inside for breakfast. Chris found the spectacle amusing but thought it was somewhat unfair that nobody else would manage to get a sunbed for the entire day.

Chris, from Glasgow, Scotland, said: “It was a manic race and scramble for the sunbeds surrounding the pool at the hotel. I don’t judge but found it funny so had to film it.

“Some people just rolled out their bed, queued up, mad-dashed to secure the bed then they were seen going back to their hotel rooms or off for breakfast.”

“It doesn’t leave room for those who don’t queue for an hour.”