January 27, 2026
Now you see it, now you don’t
DHS: Critical ICE surveillance footage from abuse case was never recorded
First a “crash,” now “never recorded” — commenters smell a cover-up
TLDR: DHS now says critical ICE detention-center video was never recorded and claims any footage would be irrelevant due to improved conditions. Commenters blast the changing story as a cover-up, meme on “Epstein cameras,” and debate whether “better now” excuses missing evidence in an abuse case
The internet is in full outrage mode after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told a court that two weeks of surveillance video from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) weren’t “lost” — they were never recorded. That’s after earlier claims the footage was irretrievably destroyed and then blamed on a vague system crash. The missing tapes cover Oct. 20–31, 2025 at ICE’s Broadview detention center near Chicago, a period at the heart of a class-action case alleging filthy, dangerous, subhuman conditions. DHS also argued that, even if the video existed, it’s irrelevant because conditions have “improved.” Community BS detectors went nuclear. One top commenter saw “incriminating” footage getting wiped, period, while another dropped the meme of the week: “tech support for the Epstein cameras.” Others warned that the appearance of impropriety is now the impropriety. The tech drama adds spice: the government says it worked with a one-person vendor, Five by Five, to recover the “crashed” footage — before pivoting to “never recorded.” Cue jokes about Schrödinger’s security video and a system whose “purpose is what it does.” A small crew says improved conditions might make old footage moot; the rest of the crowd calls that argument a self-own. Read the filings and tell us if your eyebrows aren’t in orbit
Key Points
- •DHS now says two weeks of surveillance footage from ICE’s Broadview detention center were never recorded.
- •The footage sought covers October 20–31, 2025, during a period of mass detentions in Chicago.
- •Plaintiffs allege subhuman, illegal conditions at Broadview, including inadequate food, extreme temperatures, and unsanitary facilities.
- •Government filings evolved from claiming footage was irretrievably destroyed to citing a system crash, and now to asserting it was never recorded.
- •DHS argues that any such footage would be irrelevant because detainee living conditions have since improved.