DHS Plans $7.5 Million for Biometric Smart Glasses to Help Immigration Agents Identify Migrants in Real Time

The Department of Homeland Security plans to allocate $7.5 million next year to develop biometric "smart glasses" that could help federal immigration agents identify migrants in real time, according to NewsNation, marking the latest proposed expansion of technology inside the agency's enforcement operations.

The project is included in President Trump's fiscal year 2027 budget proposal under DHS's research, development, and innovation funding.

Budget documents reviewed by NewsNation call for operational prototypes in the first quarter of 2027 and say the glasses would give agents "real-time access to information and biometric identification capabilities in the field."

The proposal frames the technology as part of a broader effort to improve DHS's ability to "encounter, transport, detain, and remove migrants who are in the United States illegally." The budget justification says the tools would support "efficient and effective immigration enforcement, removal operations, and fulfillment of executive orders and administrative priorities."

A DHS spokesperson told NewsNation that no federal funds have yet been committed to any form of smart glasses. The agency said its Science and Technology Directorate is "constantly assessing" the needs of ICE and other DHS components and that any technology used would be reviewed to ensure it operates "within the full scope of the law."

Former Customs and Border Protection official Jason Owens defended the concept, saying agents often do not know whether the person in front of them has a criminal record or is "just looking for a better way of life." Faster identification, he said, could make encounters safer for officers and migrants.

Civil liberties advocates warned that the technology could expand government tracking of people in public spaces. Cody Venzke, an ACLU attorney, told NewsNation that undercover biometric tools raise concerns that people are "surrendering all semblance of anonymity" even in public.

The smart glasses proposal comes as DHS has pursued other technology expansions. A proposed rule would broaden the agency's ability to collect and store biometrics, including fingerprints, DNA, facial scans and iris scans, from immigration benefit applicants and potentially U.S. citizens involved in those filings. DHS has said the changes are meant to verify identity, deter fraud and support enforcement.

DHS platforms have reportedly been used to monitor major events, including college football games, with access to live feeds from cameras, drones, bodycams and phones. ICE has also sought expanded social media monitoring, while Palantir has defended its work supporting immigration enforcement systems.

For critics, the concern is not only the smart glasses themselves but the larger architecture surrounding them. As Venzke put it, once such technology exists, it "can be weaponized by whoever happened to win the last election."