Every immigration officer in the field in Minneapolis will receive a body camera “effective immediately,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said yesterday, with potential expansion nationwide. Outrage has mounted over the recent fatal shooting of two U.S. citizens by immigration agents. Previously, the department had reportedly proposed cutting its body-camera program. Cameron Pugh writes today on the use of excessive force in the crackdown.

President Trump said India agreed to stop buying Russian oil in exchange for lower U.S. tariffs, marking a thaw after months of trade tension. Duties on Indian goods are set to fall from 50%, among the world’s highest, to 18%, in line with other countries in the region. Mr. Trump said Delhi would buy more American and Venezuelan oil. The agreement follows India’s newly signed free trade deal with the European Union.

Bill and Hillary Clinton agreed to testify in a congressional investigation into the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The House was planning to vote on whether to hold them in contempt for refusing to sit for closed-door, transcribed depositions. The case has reignited scrutiny of powerful figures since the Justice Department released millions of new documents last Friday.

Costa Ricans elected Laura Fernández, a tough-on-crime conservative, as president amid rising concern over drug-related violence linked to transnational gangs that have expanded across the region. She had pledged to follow the example of El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele, whose iron-fisted crackdown has reduced crime but also raised alarm over human rights abuses.

Hundreds of thousands of Haitians will keep their protected status in the United States after a federal judge blocked the government from ending Temporary Protected Status for Haiti. The Washington, D.C., judge said federal officials have offered “no evidence” that Haitian TPS holders pose a threat. The program, which provides deportation protection for people from countries in crisis, was set to expire tonight for Haiti.

Beijing denounced the Dalai Lama’s Grammy win as “anti-China political manipulation.” The Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader won best audiobook, narration, and storytelling for “Meditations: The Reflections of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.” On his website, he said the award was not “something personal” but “a recognition of our shared universal responsibility.” The Dalai Lama has lived in exile since 1959.

A teenage boy swam more than two miles to save his family off the coast of Western Australia. After they were swept out to sea on paddleboards and a kayak, the 13-year-old swam four hours to shore in choppy waters to reach help. Authorities called the feat “superhuman,” ABC News reports. They also praised his mother, who kept her two other children together until a volunteer marine rescue boat found them clinging to a paddleboard, more than eight miles offshore.

– From Monitor writers around the globe

In cases that haven’t gotten a national spotlight, U.S. citizens and legal residents say they’ve been injured by federal immigration enforcement personnel. Their lawyers say these cases are part of a rise in the use of excessive force, tied to the administration’s efforts to detain and deport unauthorized immigrants.

Relations between Canada and the United States have been rocky, as President Donald Trump accuses America’s northern neighbor of freeloading. But the new Gordie Howe International Bridge challenges that view.

The “Make America Healthy Again” movement has won some bipartisan support for trying to get processed foods out of schools. But it’s also facing pushback. A look at how schoolchildren may see food and fitness change.

Cape Town’s gangs are notorious. But in at least one part of the city, they face a formidable foe: the neighborhood “aunties.” 

In the memoir “Always Carry Salt,” Samantha Ellis explores how her family’s Iraqi Jewish heritage was shaped by hardship and language. She also writes about the pleasures of reclaiming her heritage through sharing meals and “leaving room for joy.”

It’s been a month since the United States captured Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro, to put him on trial in New York. Rather than force his regime to dismantle, however, the U.S. chose to work with it, more on economic stabilization than on wholesale political transformation. Yet, while focusing on Venezuela’s vast oil potential, the Trump administration has, ironically, used undemocratic pressure to push the government to take a step toward democracy. So far, about 30% of an estimated 1,000 political detainees have been released.

Mr. Maduro’s former deputy, and current interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, announced the release – which she called an amnesty – for all those imprisoned for political activity since 1999, as well as plans to shut down a Caracas prison where political opponents have been held and reportedly tortured.

The aim, Ms. Rodríguez said, is “to heal the wounds left by political confrontation ... to restore justice ... [and] coexistence.”

These are worthy goals – and if they reflect sincere intent – are ones that would be supported by most Venezuelans who also question whether the Trump administration will pressure the ruling clique for further change or mainly focus on overseeing oil production and sales that benefit the United States.

“We want this [prisoner release] to not just be a gesture and a symbol, but the start of dismantling the repressive system ... and of restoring the judicial system,” commented Alfredo Romero, director of the human rights organization Foro Penal.

Venezuela’s pro-democracy opposition leaders, who mostly live in exile, are seeking the release of all political prisoners. But one concern is that the government’s granting of “amnesty” implies that those receiving it have been guilty of unlawful acts.

“These people were arbitrarily imprisoned for exercising rights protected by international [law], the National Constitution, and Venezuelan laws,” the human rights group Provea pointed out in a statement. “The announcement of an amnesty should not be conceived, under any circumstances, as a pardon or act of clemency on the part of the State.”

Typically, political amnesties in Latin America have been granted to rebel forces, to draw them into peace processes, or to military rulers as a way to ease the transition from repression to freedom. Thus, for Venezuela’s political prisoners, drawing the distinction around amnesty or so-called pardons is about more than semantics. It’s about underscoring the exercise of legitimate rights to speak out or call for political change. And about reminding the world that the current rulers of Venezuela lack electoral legitimacy.

Opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado said as much last week, telling reporters she would not accept power-sharing with the current government. “We are willing to facilitate a genuine transition,” she said, not one “where mafias remain in control.

“Venezuela,” she said, “needs justice, truth, and freedom.”