ICE Bans Personal Meta Smart Glasses While Funding Its Own AI-Equipped Version

An August 18, 2026 ICE memo bars all employees from wearing Meta smart glasses on duty, warning the devices could "unintentionally capture, record, or transmit sensitive information." Simultaneously, DHS has allocated an estimated $7.5 million to prototype AI-equipped smart glasses with biometric identification for ICE officers — addressing the same data-control concerns through agency-owned infrastructure rather than Meta's consumer cloud.