Body-worn cameras apparently won’t be enough.
State Attorney General Letitia James said on Tuesday that she will send trained observers to monitor ICE agents to document enforcement and protect New Yorkers’ rights.
“We have seen in Minnesota how quickly and tragically federal operations can escalate in the absence of transparency and accountability,” James said in a statement. “My office is launching the Legal Observation Project to examine federal enforcement activity in New York and whether it remains within the bounds of the law.”
The new observation initiative comes a day after embattled U.S. Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem announced that every Homeland Security officer on the ground in Minneapolis, including those from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, will be immediately issued body-worn cameras after the shooting deaths of two U.S. citizens at the hands of federal agents.
“We will rapidly acquire and deploy body cameras to DHS law enforcement across the country,” Noem said in a social media post on X.
It was not immediately clear if the new camera policy will be adopted in New York, but James said she isn’t waiting to find out.
“As attorney general, I am proud to protect New Yorkers’ constitutional rights to speak freely, protest peacefully and go about their lives without fear of unlawful federal action,” she said.
The observation project will be staffed by trained employees from James’ Office of the Attorney General, she said. The volunteers will begin monitoring enforcement actions in the coming weeks, and will be outfitted in easily identifiable, purple, OAG-branded safety vests.
James said observers will not interfere with enforcement activity, and will only document federal conduct.
James said she is also urging New Yorkers to submit videos or other documentation of federal immigration enforcement actions directly, through the attorney general’s secure online portal, to help state officials determine if further investigation is necessary.
Across the country, the monitoring job has often fallen on private citizens or protesters.
The scrutiny of federal officers has intensified after two U.S. citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, were shot and killed in separate incidents while protesting immigration enforcement activities in Minneapolis.
A third victim, Keith Porter, 43, was killed on New Year’s Eve by on off-duty ICE agent in Los Angeles.
Porter’s family said the father of two was firing gunshots in the air to celebrate the New Year when he was confronted and shot to death by an off-duty ICE agent.
