White House offers concession on body cameras in bid to end DHS shutdown

Source: USA Today

March 17, 2026 Updated March 18, 2026, 10:36 a.m. ET


WASHINGTON ‒ Seeking to end the rapidly worsening shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, the White House has offered to expand the use of body-worn cameras for federal immigration enforcement agents and limit their activities at churches, schools, and hospitals.

But a month into the crisis, the Trump administration is still holding firm on one of the more contentious parts of the debate to reform the 9/11-era Cabinet agency, opposing any kind of ban on masks for law enforcement officers.

The concessions were detailed in a March 17 letter to Senate Republican leaders from top Trump administration officials about the status of negotiations between the White House and congressional Democrats.

As terrorism threats rise and airport security lines grow longer across the country, the letter underscores the intensifying pressure on the Trump administration and lawmakers to end the shutdown of the agency that has been widely scrutinized since the killings of two Minnesotans by Homeland Security officers earlier this year.

Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/03/17/dhs-homeland-security-shutdown-update/89186314007/