Representative Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ) is questioning a federal proposal to equip immigration agents with AI-powered smart glasses, and she says the technology exposes a troubling double standard.
Rep. Grijalva expressed deep concern about the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) push to develop glasses capable of identifying people in real time using biometric data.
However, her frustration goes beyond the technology itself.
"We can't wear those when we go into detention facilities to show everyone what's happening," Grijalva told independent journalist Ken Klippenstein. "I think if the actual people, the American people, saw what was happening in these facilities firsthand, I think that there would be an outrage."
She argued that while immigration agents may soon have access to advanced recording tools in the field, lawmakers remain blocked from documenting conditions inside detention centers.
"Because they don't allow us to show you how inhumane the conditions are, we don't have the outpouring that I believe we would if we could show what's really happening," she added.
Recent Budget Request
The remarks come after DHS submitted a budget request for fiscal year 2027 that includes roughly $7.5 million for research and development of new enforcement technologies, among them, operational prototypes of smart glasses designed to enable what the agency calls "biometric identification of illegal aliens."
The proposal caught many lawmakers off guard.
Several members of Congress, from both parties, said Tuesday they were hearing about it for the first time. Some Republicans said they weren't immediately troubled by it, while several Democrats flagged civil liberties concerns.
Privacy advocates have been more direct, with the American Civil Liberties Union warning that equipping agents with real-time biometric tools vastly expands the government's surveillance reach across the entire country, far beyond airports and border crossings where such technology has traditionally been used.
Congress has yet to act on DHS's budget request, but the debate over the smart glasses proposal is likely just getting started.
