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The US Department of Homeland Security has built a massive DNA surveillance system, collecting over 1.5 million genetic profiles in four years.
The DNA collection programme, which includes data from US citizens, minors and the elderly, raises concerns about genetic privacy, due process and the limits of executive power. The system, which uses Palantir’s surveillance technology, lacks transparency, oversight and accountability.
The US government is abusing its immigration powers to amass DNA for future policing, a report from Georgetown Law said.
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The following is a summary of an article published by Biometric Update. You can read the full article HERE.
As we read this article, we should recall that the UK’s National Health Service (“NHS”) has plans to sequence and store the DNA of all babies born in England. In June, The Telegraph reported that as part of a ‘10 Year Health Plan for England’, “every baby will have their DNA mapped under an NHS revolution” and “the NHS has already embarked on plans to screen 100,000 newborn babies for genetic conditions.” In 2023, Leo Hohman warned that the US government was doing the same, collecting and storing the DNA of babies, but secretly.
Read more: Digital dystopia looms large in the UK
Genetic Privacy Erodes As Millions Of DNA Profiles Are Entered into US Database: It Represents a Leap Toward Universal Genetic Surveillance in the Guise of Immigration Enforcement
The Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) has built a vast DNA surveillance system in the United States, with over 1.5 million genetic profiles entered into the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (“FBI”) Combined DNA Index System (“CODIS”) in just four years, as revealed in a 2024 report by Georgetown Law’s Centre on Privacy & Technology.
The report warned that immigration powers are being used as a tool for population-scale genetic monitoring, with people of colour disproportionately affected, and that the system has expanded to include not only non-US persons but also US citizens, including children.
The collection of DNA samples from non-US persons was authorised by the bipartisan DNA Fingerprint Act of 2005, but the Biden Administration declined to fully implement the law, while the Trump Administration mandated its implementation through an executive order.
Under the Trump administration, DHS and Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) accelerated DNA collection, integrated a data infrastructure provided by Palantir and pushed genetic surveillance further into the country’s interior, raising concerns about privacy, due process and executive power.
Between 2020 and 2024, CBP took DNA samples from approximately 2,000 US citizens, including at least 95 minors. Those samples were sent for inclusion in CODIS, often without justification or charges being filed, which is a violation of CBP’s own directive.
In July, the Centre on Privacy & Technology published an update that paints a disturbing portrait of a government genetic collection programme that is vast, legally dubious and resistant to oversight, with the software infrastructure provided by Palantir through lucrative contracts awarded by the Trump Administration.
The use of Palantir’s surveillance technology has enabled the federal government to stitch together genetic profiles with other biometric and personal data, raising stark constitutional questions about the limits of executive power and the protection of citizens’ privacy and due process rights.
The expansion of DNA collection by the DHS has raised concerns among civil liberties advocates, who warn that this could lead to a universal database linking DNA to people’s movements, communications and family ties.
According to researchers at Georgetown, the DHS programme is a significant step towards universal genetic surveillance, disguised as immigration enforcement and its impact on citizens and non-citizens cannot be separated.
The FBI and other US law enforcement and intelligence agencies have been using “bio-forensic” DNA data to test whether genetic material can be parsed to identify or narrow down unknown subjects of interest by comparing unknown DNA genetic sequences against known sequences.
The Centre on Privacy & Technology noted that DNA samples can reveal intimate personal details, such as biological sex, ancestry, health and predisposition to disease, as well as biological relations across generations, putting non-citizens at greater risk due to DHS’s activities.
CBP has increased its biometric surveillance capabilities by expanding DNA collection at the border, including collecting DNA from children as young as four years old, despite initial assurances that only DNA from persons aged 14 to 79 would be collected.
The Department of Justice’s elimination of the regulatory exemption that spared DHS from full DNA collection has led to a significant increase in DNA profiles added to CODIS, with over 1.5 million profiles added by DHS in just four years, and a total of over 2.6 million profiles by spring 2025.
The US government has been collecting DNA profiles from millions of people, primarily from four countries: Mexico, Venezuela, Cuba and Haiti, which account for over 70 per cent of the dataset, with the majority of those affected being minors who have not faced any criminal charges.
The DNA collection programme, which is part of the DNA Fingerprint Act, has been criticised for lacking transparency, oversight and accountability, with the government providing no information on what happens to people who refuse to provide a DNA sample, which is a federal misdemeanour punishable by up to a year in prison.
Researchers from the Centre on Privacy & Technology have found that the programme has embedded the DNA database into a broader surveillance infrastructure, creating a foundation for universal monitoring, and have called for the programme to be halted, the collected profiles to be purged and a ban on the use of immigration powers to amass DNA.
But the Trump Administration has deepened the integration of DNA surveillance into government systems through a March executive order that mandated cross-agency information sharing and with immigration arrests surging throughout the nation, citizens and long-term residents are at risk of being pulled into the government’s genetic net.
Congress has the power to repeal the DNA collection provision of the DNA Fingerprint Act or impose strict limits on the DHS and the FBI, but the political will to do so remains uncertain and researchers are calling for comprehensive regulation of the collection, creation, storage and sharing of genetic data by public and private actors.
The collection of DNA profiles is a permanent and indefinite process, with DNA containing a person’s biological blueprint and family ties, which can be mined in ways not yet imaginable, and the danger lies not only in how the government uses this data today but also in what future administrations may do with it.
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Categories: Breaking News, US News
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