Title: ICE and CBP Body Camera Accountability Act
Policy area: Immigration

Summary:
ICE and CBP Body Camera Accountability Act
This bill directs U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to ensure that ICE and CBP agents and officers wear body cameras when engaged in official operations. ICE and CBP must establish: (1) policies for the use of such cameras, and (2) procedures for carrying out adverse actions for noncompliance with such policies.
Such cameras must be on for an agent's or officer's entire shift.
Footage collected by such a body camera shall be made available to each party to any administrative proceeding, civil action, or criminal prosecution to which it pertains. If such footage is not made available, such a party may notify ICE or CBP in writing for purposes of instigating an adverse action for noncompliance.
DHS shall commence a rulemaking regarding the use of body cameras and the provision of footage that is consistent with the "Civil Rights Principles for Body Worn Cameras" of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, May 2015.
An ICE or CBP agent or officer whose body camera does not record footage in violation of this bill shall be subject to furlough, reduction in pay or grade, or a suspension of up to 30 days. If a body camera does not record at a time when the camera is required to be active, DHS may not determine that the camera suffered a malfunction unless the agent or officer submits evidence sufficient to establish that a malfunction occurred.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1608 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1608

    To require agents and officers of U.S. Immigration and Customs 
    Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection to wear body 
                    cameras, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 17, 2017

Mr. Espaillat (for himself, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Correa, Mrs. Torres, Mr. 
Sablan, Mr. Gutierrez, Mr. Soto, Mr. Cardenas, Mr. Costa, Mr. Serrano, 
Mr. Gallego, Mrs. Napolitano, Mr. Vargas, Ms. Michelle Lujan Grisham of 
  New Mexico, Mr. McGovern, Ms. Judy Chu of California, Mr. Danny K. 
   Davis of Illinois, Ms. Bonamici, Ms. Velazquez, Mr. Carbajal, Ms. 
  Norton, Mr. Blumenauer, Ms. Moore, Mr. Beyer, Ms. Jackson Lee, Mr. 
 O'Rourke, and Mr. Johnson of Georgia) introduced the following bill; 
   which was referred to the Committee on Homeland Security, and in 
addition to the Committees on the Judiciary, and Ways and Means, for a 
 period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 
                          committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To require agents and officers of U.S. Immigration and Customs 
    Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection to wear body 
                    cameras, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``ICE and CBP Body Camera 
Accountability Act''.

SEC. 2. USE OF BODY CAMERAS BY AGENTS AND OFFICERS OF U.S. IMMIGRATION 
              AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT AND U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER 
              PROTECTION.

    (a) In General.--Not later than the date that the rule under 
subsection (e) is finalized, the Director of U.S. Immigration and 
Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and 
Border Protection (CBP) shall ensure that agents and officers of ICE 
and CBP, as the case may be, wear body cameras when such agents and 
officers are engaged in official operations.
    (b) Implementation.--To carry out this section, the Director of ICE 
and the Commissioner of CBP shall establish--
            (1) policies, procedures, and best practices for the use of 
        body cameras by agents and officers of ICE and CBP, including 
        training relating to the use of such cameras; and
            (2) policies and procedures for carrying out adverse 
        actions under subsection (f).
    (c) Always-On.--Body cameras worn by agents and officers of ICE and 
CBP shall be turned on at the beginning of the shift of such agents and 
officers and shall remain on for the duration of such shifts.
    (d) Availability of Body Camera Footage.--Footage collected by such 
a body camera shall be made available to each party to any 
administrative proceeding, civil action, or criminal prosecution to 
which such footage pertains in accordance with such requirements as the 
Secretary of Homeland Security shall by rule require under subsection 
(e). If such footage is not made available, such a party may notify the 
Director of ICE or the Commissioner of CBP, as the case may be, in 
writing for purposes of instigating an adverse action described in 
subsection (f).
    (e) Rulemaking.--Not later than 60 days after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall commence a 
rulemaking regarding the use of body cameras and the provision of 
footage in accordance with subsection (d) that is consistent with the 
``Civil Rights Principles for Body Worn Cameras'' of the Leadership 
Conference on Civil and Human Rights, May 2015. The proposed rule shall 
include a comparison with the American Civil Liberties Union's January 
2017 ``Model Act for Regulating the Use of Wearable Body Cameras by Law 
Enforcement'' and ``An Act Relative to Body-Worn Cameras for Law 
Enforcement Officers,'' 2016 N.H. Legis. Serv. 322 (codified at N.H. 
REV. STAT. ANN. Sec.  105-D (2016)).
    (f) Adverse Actions for Absence of Body Camera Footage.--An agent 
or officer of ICE or CBP whose body camera does not record footage 
because of a violation of subsection (c) shall be subject to furlough, 
reduction in pay or grade, or a suspension of up to 30 days under 
subchapter II of chapter 75 of title 5, United States Code, as the 
Director of ICE or the Commissioner of CBP (as the case may be) 
determines appropriate. If a body camera does not record at a time when 
the camera is required to be active, the Secretary of Homeland Security 
may not determine that the camera suffered a malfunction unless the 
agent or officer submits evidence sufficient to establish that a 
malfunction occurred.
    (g) Prohibition on New Funding.--No additional funding is 
authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act. This Act shall be 
carried out using amounts otherwise made available for such purposes.
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