US Immigration Agency Wants Robot Dogs: How Will They Be Used at the Border?
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is planning to spend as much as $2 million to purchase dog-like robots for use in immigration enforcement operations, according to a Department of Homeland Security funding document posted this week to the agency’s Acquisition Planning Forecast System.
The document identifies the robots as Boston Dynamics’ “Spot” model, which would be used to support inspections, situational awareness and hazard assessment in environments considered risky for officers, according to the procurement notice. A senior DHS official confirmed the plan to NBC News and said the robots would not be used to make arrests.
The move comes roughly two weeks after ICE drew bipartisan criticism for a separate, larger purchase: as much as $20 million worth of electric shock gloves for officers to wear during operations. White House border czar Tom Homan has defended that purchase, arguing the gloves would let agents avoid resorting to deadly force. A group of 16 Democratic senators, led by Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, sent a letter this week urging ICE’s acting director to cancel the gloves purchase, citing what they described as a pattern of excessive force by the agency.
What the Robots Are Built to Do
According to the procurement notice, the Spot robots are meant to provide “a remotely operated robotic capability for inspection, situational awareness, and hazard assessment in environments that may pose risks to personnel.” Boston Dynamics says the robots are equipped with cameras and sensors capable of detecting vibration, gas and radiation, which could allow agents to check vehicles, buildings or other spaces before entering them directly.
The robots are already used by several other law enforcement and security agencies. The New York and Los Angeles police departments have deployed similar robots, and the Secret Service used them to help secure former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. A related, quadrupedal robot developed by Ghost Robotics has also been tested by Customs and Border Protection along the southern border for years as an autonomous sentry, though DHS has said that program remains in a research phase with no fixed deployment timeline.
A Pattern of Scrutiny Over ICE Tools
The robot dog purchase lands amid heightened attention to how ICE outfits its officers as immigration enforcement operations have expanded under the Trump administration. Civil rights advocates have raised concerns about the electric shock gloves in particular, warning that a device capable of delivering a shock with the press of a button, without an obvious external signal, could be used without adequate oversight. Rights groups have also pointed to reports of use-of-force incidents involving the agency in recent years as a reason for caution around new hardware.
DHS has pushed back on criticism of both purchases, framing the equipment as safety tools for officers working in unpredictable situations rather than offensive devices aimed at migrants.
The funding document does not specify a delivery timeline for the robot dogs, and it remains unclear how many units ICE intends to purchase or where they would be deployed. Given the response to the shock glove purchase, the robot dog plan is likely to face questions from members of Congress and immigrant advocacy groups in the coming weeks, particularly around use-of-force policy, oversight and whether the robots could ultimately be adapted beyond inspection duties.
