Americans Caught Up in Questionable DNA Testing

According to recently released data analyzed by Georgetown Law’s Center on Privacy & Technology, the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees Customs and Border Protection (CBP), collected the DNA of nearly 2,000 innocent US citizens caught up in immigration procedures, between 2020 and 2024. The data was then sent to CODIS, the FBI’s nationwide system for policing investigations.

“Those spreadsheets tell a chilling story,” according to Stevie Glaberson, director of research and advocacy at GCPT. “They show DNA taken from people as young as 4 and as old as 93—and, as our new analysis found, they also show Customs flagrantly violating the law by taking DNA from citizens without justification.”

The entries included travelers never charged with a crime, and dozens of cases where agents left the “charges” field blank. In some cases, officers invoked civil penalties as justification for swabs that federal law reserves for criminal arrests. Such actions almost certainly defy privacy rights as laid out in the Constitution.

CODIS is suppose to be a tool for violent crime investigations. However, thanks to policy changes and the present administration’s immigration agenda, the system has become a genetic bank on those outside the criminal justice system.

Department of Homeland Security data shows that cheek swabs from seemingly innocent immigrants—and in many cases, innocent US citizens—get entered into CODIS. The program now sweeps in children at the border, families questioned at airports, and people held on civil—not criminal—violations. In fact, as of April ‘25, the “detainee” index contained over 2.6 million profiles. Supposedly, 97 percent were collected under civil, not criminal, authority.

Under Trump’s January executive order, DHS agencies were instructed to deploy “any available technologies” to verify family ties and identity, a directive that explicitly covers genetic testing. Recently, new bids for Rapid DNA at local booking facilities around the country were being asked for.

Advocates, and some lawmakers, have raised alarms about the program. Four years ago, the DHS inspector general discovered the department void of central oversight of DNA collection, while citing public safety as an excuse. Granted, public safety should be a concern, but where does the line get drawn? Rights organizations allege that CBP’s DNA collection program has morphed into a sweeping genetic surveillance regime. Again, where does surveillance of potential evil-doers and privacy rights meet?

As someone who considers myself as a defender of the Constitution. no one - barring violent criminal activity - should be forced to give up DNA and have the results stored forever in some data bank for future reference. Any exceptions better have extremely extenuating circumstances. I would also argue that DNA testing is a violation of the Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate oneself. It’s the government’s job to prove one is guilty, not a suspect’s job to prove themselves innocent. Government’s abuse of the procedure is another step back on the ladder of freedom.

Source used: arstechnica.com