Thousands of Border Patrol agents and officers to soon begin wearing cameras
WASHINGTON — Federal officials announced Wednesday that thousands of Border Patrol agents and officers will soon begin wearing body cameras as they patrol the southwestern and northern borders, a move that immigration advocates said would improve oversight of the agency.
The policy shift comes amid allegations of aggressive behavior by Border Patrol personnel and national calls for reducing use of force by police. Customs and Border Protection has already outfitted an initial group of agents and officers with the cameras, and expects to deploy 6,000 cameras by year’s end, the agency said in a news release.
The cameras are being rolled out in phases, with officers and agents along the southwestern and northern borders being the first to get the devices. The agency did not say when, or if, all of its 45,000 agents and officers nationwide can expect to be issued cameras.
The cameras are intended to “provide greater transparency into interactions between CBP officers and agents and the public,” Customs and Border Protection acting Commissioner Troy Miller said in a statement.
The agency, which began studying the need for cameras in 2014, joins a host of local and state departments that in recent years have embraced the devices. The Justice Department in June said its agents will wear cameras when serving arrest warrants or conducting raids.
—Los Angeles Times
Marist poll finds 59% New Yorkers say Cuomo should resign in wake of sexual harassment report
ALBANY, N.Y. — A majority of New Yorkers think it’s time for Gov. Andrew Cuomo to go, according to a new Marist poll.
The survey, conducted overnight and released Wednesday, found that 59% of Empire State voters, including 52% of Democrats,believe Cuomo should resign following the bombshell attorney general’s report detailing sexual harassment allegations against the embattled governor.
If Cuomo does not step down, another 59% of New Yorkers say he should be impeached.
Only 32% say they want to see Cuomo serve out the remainder of his term.
Prior to the scandals currently engulfing his administration, the three-term governor had said he plans to run for reelection next year.
A paltry 12% of registered voters believe Cuomo should be reelected.
The 63-year-old Democratic governor has defiantly denied mounting calls for his resignation and has repeatedly said he’s done nothing wrong.
Following the release of Attorney General Letitia James’ report, which corroborated claims made by 11 women, mostly younger aides and staffers, Cuomo flatly denied the allegations against him.
In a prerecorded video released on Tuesday, the governor maintained his innocence and cast the independent investigation as politically motivated and biased.
—New York Daily News
Mexico sues Smith & Wesson and Glock over cartel violence
Mexico filed a lawsuit in a U.S. court Wednesday against Smith & Wesson Brands Inc., Glock Inc., Sturm, Ruger & Co. and other major gun manufacturers, accusing them of contributing to gang violence south of the border.
The civil suit in a Massachusetts federal district court argues that the companies “wreak havoc in Mexican society, by persistently supplying a torrent of guns to the drug cartels”.
In 2019, 17,000 Mexican citizens were murdered with guns manufactured in the U.S., compared to 14,000 citizens of the U.S.itself. This is despite Mexico having a smaller population and only one gun store, according to the suit.
“For decades the government and its citizens have been victimized by a deadly flood of military-style and other particularly lethal guns that flows from the U.S. across the border, into criminal hands in Mexico,” the country said in its lawsuit. “This flood is not a natural phenomenon or an inevitable consequence of the gun business or of U.S. gun laws. It is the foreseeable result of the defendants’ deliberate actions and business practices.”
The complaint names U.S.-based manufacturers “whose guns are most often recovered in Mexico”: Smith & Wesson, Glock and Sturm, Ruger and Co., Beretta U.S.A. Corp, Colt’s Manufacturing Company LLC and Century International Arms Inc. It also names Barrett,saying its .50-caliber sniper rifle “is a weapon of war prized by the drug cartels,” and Interstate Arms, a wholesaler.
Smith & Wesson, Glock and Sturm, Ruger and Co. didn’t immediately reply to written requests for comment.
—Bloomberg News
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