Joaquin Castro: “Earlier this year, DHS Secretary John Kelly told the Congressional Hispanic Caucus that he did not oppose requiring…”

“Earlier this year, DHS Secretary John Kelly told the Congressional Hispanic Caucus that he did not oppose requiring agents to wear body cameras, as long as Congress provides the necessary funding. My amendment would do just that. There are tremendous safety and accountability benefits to having video records of law enforcement interactions with the public, both for law enforcement officers and for the public. I would note that a few years ago, when we debated body cameras for law enforcement, at that time, the majority accepted my amendment to increase body camera funding for law enforcement officers by $10 million. In fact, my hometown of San Antonio, I believe, now every patrol officer is outfitted with a body camera. I respect the chairman's concerns about the cost of storage, but I would ask the chairman and my colleagues to consider the fact that the cost of storage, this $10 million, is a small cost when we are talking about people's lives. That could be the lives of the agents themselves or the lives of people that they interact with in the public. Law enforcement, by and large--putting aside CBP agents for now, police departments across the country have accepted this technology as not only the thing of the future, but the thing of the present, what they are using now. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.”