ICE and CBP Have Collected DNA From Nearly One Million Migrants, Including Young Children, Records Show

ICE Has Taken DNA From Nearly One Million People

Wired reports: New research from Georgetown Law’s Center on Privacy and Technology estimates that the Department of Homeland Security has become the largest single source of new genetic profiles in the nation’s criminal DNA system, with ICE alone potentially adding as many as roughly 920,000 profiles in 2025. The vast majority of people in ICE custody have no criminal conviction, and residing in the US undocumented is typically a civil, not crim…

ICE Collected Nearly 1 Million People’s DNA Last Year

“The vast majority of people in ICE custody have no criminal conviction, and residing in the U.S. undocumented is typically a civil, not criminal, offense,” Wired reports. “Yet once the DNA profiles of detained people enter the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS, law enforcement agencies across the country can compare them against evidence […]

Overnight News Digest: Last year ICE collected DNA from nearly one million people

ICE Collected Nearly 1 Million People’s DNA Last Year—Including Young Children Wired Washington state wildfires force 60,000 people to evacuate homes BBC Threat…

ICE and CBP Have Collected DNA From Nearly One Million Migrants, Including Young Children, Records Show

United States immigration authorities collected the DNA of nearly one million migrants in 2025, placing hundreds of young children and undocumented adults into a federal criminal database, newly analysed government records show. A 2020 policy change removed previous administrative exemptions, turning civil immigration detention into a major source of forensic DNA collection. Internal documents obtained by Georgetown Law's Center on Privacy and T…

Report: ICE added 1 million people's DNA to federal database

Dhruv Mehrotra is an investigative data journalist who covered this nationwide story for WIRED. He spoke with MPR News host Clay Masters about his reporting.

ICE Is Using Immigration Arrests to Build a Massive DNA Database

A new report accused the agency of “abusing” its power for policing.