Every Minneapolis federal agent getting body camera 'effective immediately'

US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has said that her department was deploying body cameras to every officer in the field in Minneapolis, effective immediately, and would roll out the body camera programme nationwide as funding becomes available.

"Effective immediately we are deploying body cameras to every officer in the field in Minneapolis. As funding is available, the body camera program will be expanded nationwide," Noem said on X on Monday.

The immigration enforcement policies of President Donald Trump's administration have come under scrutiny after the killing of two US citizens in Minnesota last month by agents of the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security.

The killings have led to nationwide protests.

Human rights advocates have widely condemned Trump's immigration policies as lacking due process and making the environment hostile for immigrant communities. Trump has cast his actions as being aimed at improving domestic security.

Trump also commented on Noem's announcement on Monday, telling reporters that body cameras "generally tend to be good for law enforcement, because people can't lie about what's happening."

"So it's, generally speaking, I think 80%, good for law enforcement. But if she wants to do that, I'm okay with it,"

Immediate camera rollout

Trump said, while adding that the decision was made by Noem and not by him.

Noem's announcement came after a call she had with US Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott, Trump border czar Tom Homan, who has been tasked to take over operations in Minnesota, and acting ICE director Todd Lyons.

Noem said the Trump administration will "rapidly acquire and deploy body cameras to DHS law enforcement across the country."

Meanwhile, Liam Conejo Ramos, a 5-year-old boy who was taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody from Columbia Heights, is back in Minnesota with his father after a judge ordered their release from an immigrant detention center in Texas. 

Attorney General Pam Bondi said on Monday that two additional arrests were made in connection with a church disruption led by protesters in Minnesota.

The Justice Department has promised to crack down on a group that stormed into a church in St. Paul, Minnesota, where a local pastor has ties to ICE, and disrupted the service.