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DHS's FY2027 budget justification (reported by Fortune, May 12, 2026) requests $7.5 million to build operational-prototype smart glasses giving ICE agents real-time facial recognition and biometric ID in the field, targeted for September 2027. ICE agents have already been seen wearing Meta Ray-Bans during raids in at least six states, and DHS has conceded the underlying Mobile Fortify tech could scan U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents.
“DHS's FY2027 budget justification (reported by Fortune, May 12, 2026) requests $7.5 million to build operational-prototype smart glasses giving ICE agents real-time facial recognition and biometric ID in the field, targeted for September 2027. ICE agents have already been seen wearing Meta Ray-Bans during raids in at least six states, and DHS has conceded the underlying Mobile Fortify tech could scan U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents.”
The next frontier of immigration surveillance isn't a database — it's a pair of glasses. DHS is asking Congress to fund wearable facial recognition for ICE agents, raising the prospect of officers identifying anyone they look at, in real time, on the street.
In its fiscal year 2027 budget justification, reported by Fortune on May 12, 2026, DHS seeks $7.5 million to 'deliver innovative hardware, such as operational prototypes of smart glasses, to equip agents with real-time access to information and biometric identification capabilities in the field.' The stated delivery target is September 2027.
The ask formalizes something already happening. ICE agents have been spotted wearing Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses during enforcement operations in at least six states since the start of the second Trump term. The budget line would build a purpose-made successor with biometric ID baked in.
The glasses would tie into the same Mobile Fortify facial recognition pipeline that ICE already fields. In an Illinois and Chicago lawsuit, DHS acknowledged that a 'photo taken by an agent using the Mobile Fortify mobile application could be that of someone other than an alien, including U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents.' Wearable scanning makes that risk constant and ambient.
Some members of Congress said they were learning of the proposal for the first time. Rep. Ro Khanna called the prospect of face-scanning smart glasses on federal agents a 'scary thought.'
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