U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) bans employees from coming to work wearing Meta smart glasses, according to internal guidance cited by multiple outlets. The policy treats the camera-equipped eyewear as effectively a body-worn recording device, citing risks that the glasses could capture or transmit sensitive information and thereby undermine privacy protections and legal safeguards.
The ban applies broadly to staff, not only agents in the field. The move follows reports and sightings of Ray-Ban Meta glasses during immigration-related operations. At the same time, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is pursuing its own smart-glasses effort, with outlets describing DHS work on prototypes that would be capable of biometric functions, supported through proposed or ongoing funding.
Overall, the outlets align on the existence and rationale of ICE’s “gadget” restriction, while differing mainly in emphasis: one outlet highlights the prohibition and ICE’s approach to building alternatives, while another frames it as an ICE-wide order tied to repeated sightings in raids and ICE’s compliance concerns versus DHS’s separate development track.
