ICE is considering up to $2 million in Boston Dynamics robots for hazardous-area inspections, raising questions about surveillance and oversight that Los Angeles already confronted when LAPD received a Spot robot.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement is preparing to spend up to $2 million on robotic dogs that can enter dangerous or difficult-to-access places before agents do, according to a Department of Homeland Security funding document.
The proposed purchase of Boston Dynamics’ Spot robots would give ICE another tool for inspecting locations, assessing hazards and gathering information remotely. A senior DHS official told NBC News that the robots will not be used to make arrests.
But Los Angeles has already had a close look at what happens when police put the same technology into the field.
The Los Angeles Police Department received a Spot robot in 2023 after the Los Angeles City Council approved a donation valued at nearly $278,000. The decision followed more than an hour of public debate over how the technology could be used in policing. The council ultimately required LAPD to provide quarterly reports on deployments, their outcomes and any problems involving the robot.
LAPD described Spot as a tool for situations in which sending a human officer into a potentially dangerous environment could put that officer at risk.
That is also the basic justification ICE is offering.
The DHS funding notice says the robots would be used for “inspection, situational awareness, and hazard assessment” in environments that could pose risks to personnel. The goal, according to the agency, is to improve officer safety and decision-making in dangerous, confined, unstable, or difficult-to-access locations.
Spot is designed for precisely those kinds of environments. Boston Dynamics says the robot can be operated manually or autonomously and can be equipped with additional sensors and other payloads. Its capabilities include navigating difficult terrain and collecting information from places where it may be dangerous for people to go.
That makes Los Angeles an important case study for what ICE is now proposing.
The question is not simply whether a robot can replace an officer walking into a dangerous building.
It is what happens to an enforcement operation when officers can send a machine inside first.
Los Angeles has already debated the limits
When the Los Angeles City Council considered accepting the Spot robot, supporters emphasized officer safety. The robot could be sent into situations involving potentially armed people, explosives or other hazards without immediately putting officers in harm’s way.
But the purchase also generated significant opposition.
Critics questioned whether the technology could eventually expand beyond the narrow circumstances initially described by police. The council responded by requiring additional oversight and retaining the ability to modify or suspend the program.
That experience could offer a roadmap for ICE.
If the federal agency moves forward with the purchase, some of the same questions that Los Angeles confronted will follow the robots into immigration enforcement.
When can agents deploy them?
What exactly can the robots record?
Will video or sensor information be stored?
Who can access that information?
Can footage collected during an immigration operation later be used in an investigation or criminal case?
And what prevents a tool introduced for dangerous situations from eventually being used in less dangerous ones?
The procurement notice does not answer those questions.
The robot is not the weapon
There is another important distinction.
Boston Dynamics has said it will not authorize or partner with customers seeking to use its robots as weapons or autonomous targeting systems.
ICE also says its proposed robots will not be used to make arrests.
So this is not a story about ICE deploying autonomous machines to chase or apprehend migrants.
It is a story about an enforcement agency acquiring a machine that can potentially go places its agents cannot safely go, while transmitting information back to them.
That distinction matters.
It also explains why the Los Angeles experience is useful. LAPD’s Spot was presented as a way to put distance between officers and potentially dangerous situations. ICE is proposing essentially the same basic safety concept, but in the very different context of immigration enforcement.
What ICE does with the technology will matter more than what it calls it
The most striking feature of Spot is its appearance. But its most consequential capabilities are its cameras, sensors, mobility and ability to operate remotely.
Those capabilities can make an officer safer.
They can also give an enforcement agency a new way to see and assess an environment without physically entering it.
Los Angeles spent months debating what limits should accompany that capability before allowing its police department to use the robot.
ICE now appears poised to confront the same question.
The federal government has said the machines are intended to protect its agents from dangerous environments.
The unanswered question is what rules will govern everything the robots can see once they get there.
