Washington DC - US Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Saturday confirmed every officer will be equipped with a body camera by the end of August, but said the press has "mischaracterized" its policy.

"We're committed to transparency and accountability," Acting ICE Director David Venturella said in a statement shared to social media on Saturday.

"We're on track to equip every officer and agent in the field with body-worn cameras by the end of August, ahead of our original timeline," he explained.

The confirmation comes amid months of uncertainty surrounding the wearing of body cameras by ICE and other federal immigration agents.

Donald Trump Fighter jets intercept aircraft near Trump's New Jersey golf club

In February, the policy was initially announced by then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in response to public outrage over the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minnesota.

Questions still circle, however, around a rule permitting immigration agencies to withhold the publishing of body camera footage when it could compromise an ongoing investigation of someone's privacy.

An Associated Press report last week revealed that the policy says ICE will release video footage of shootings and other encounters only after it has been determined to be "in the best interests of the agency" to do so.

As a result, Venturella will reportedly have the discretion to only release recordings that reflect well on ICE.

Venturella hit back against the AP report, writing that "it's disappointing, though not surprising, to see yet another misleading and sensationalized Associated Press report about ICE operations and policy."

"The AP fundamentally mischaracterized ICE's body-worn policy by conflating the expedited release of footage following a serious bodily injury or death in custody with ICE's broader authority to release body-worn camera footage," he wrote.

"ICE policy permits expedited release when appropriate – and clarifies that it's not appropriate to release footage when doing so could compromise investigations or privacy."