Migrant DNA being collected by the United States government has surged more than 5,000 percent since 2020 and the "coercive" and "illegal" practice should end immediately, a researcher who co-authored a new study told . The , was published Tuesday by the Center on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown Law—a think tank dedicated to exposing government and corporate surveillance. The study is derived from sources including media reports, government-published documents, and immigrants themselves who provided their DNA.
Since 2020, the (DHS) has added more than 1.5 million DNA profiles to the national law enforcement database (Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS). Prior to 2020, approximately 25,000 DNA profiles from noncitizens were added to the CODIS database.
DNA can be collected when immigration authorities like U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) and U.
S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detain noncitizens attempting to enter the country. Once DHS collects DNA, it sends samples to the and the bureau then adds profiles created from the samples to CODIS for indefinite storage.
Those profiles then become available to law enforcement entities at the local, state, federal, and international levels for use in criminal investigations. Center Justice Fellow Emerald Tse—one of the study's co-authors and researchers—told via phone that the category of is broad, allowing authorities to include a wider array of people in collection efforts that the Center claims is unconstitution.
