Homeland Security Builds Massive DNA Pipeline

The federal government has quietly built a fast-growing DNA pipeline that now reaches deep into everyday American life.

Story Snapshot

Georgetown researchers say Homeland Security collected DNA from more than 3.3 million people and fed hundreds of thousands of profiles into the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) database in 2025 alone.
Customs and Border Protection records show thousands of U.S. citizens’ DNA taken between 2020 and 2024, not just noncitizens.
The Department of Homeland Security proposed a rule to request or require raw DNA and partial DNA profiles across wide immigration touchpoints.
Homeland Security’s own privacy filings confirm cheek-swab DNA collection from immigration detainees and transfer to the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System.

What the government is building, and how it grew so fast

Homeland Security components began routine DNA collection from people in immigration custody after policy shifts in 2020. The agency’s privacy assessment explains officers use a cheek swab, then send samples for profiling and storage in the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Combined DNA Index System, known as CODIS. Georgetown’s Center on Privacy and Technology reports a sharp scale-up: more than 3.3 million people swabbed overall, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement pushing almost 900,000 new profiles into the database in 2025 alone. Those numbers suggest a durable pipeline, not a pilot.

Officials defend this expansion as a statutory duty tied to law enforcement. The Department of Homeland Security cites the DNA Fingerprint Act and federal rules that require DNA collection from people arrested or detained under U.S. authority. That legal hook matters. Once an agency calls a process “booking,” genetic data can travel where criminal data goes. The result is simple: immigration contact can now plant a person’s DNA profile inside a national system that police can search again and again.

The new rule that widens the gate

A proposed Homeland Security rule published in the Federal Register in November 2025 would expand biometrics authority to a long list of people tied to immigration benefits. It states the agency may require, request, or accept raw DNA or DNA test results, including partial DNA profiles, for immigration and naturalization processing. Tracking summaries of the rule note the plan for continuous immigration vetting and biometrics at arrest or encounter, and the removal of age limits for collection. That is not a scalpel. That is a net.

Supporters say DNA also helps detect fraud and confirm claimed family ties. Homeland Security’s own familial DNA program describes a consent-based, two-profile match to verify parent-child relationships and says it does not expose sensitive traits like health risk or ethnicity. That narrow test can make sense in child safety cases. But pairing a narrow use with a broad pipeline invites mission creep. America has seen this before with fingerprints and face scans. The first use is limited. The second use keeps growing.

Yes, U.S. citizens got swabbed—and that matters

Georgetown researchers, citing Customs and Border Protection records obtained through public records requests, say officers took DNA from more than 2,000 U.S. citizens between 2020 and 2024. That claim undercuts the idea that this is only about noncitizens. It also raises common-sense questions: When an American’s DNA goes into the Federal Bureau of Investigation system from an immigration stop, what is the path to removal? The public files we have do not show a full expungement ledger or how often profiles get purged compared with kept.

Numbers on this program come mainly from Georgetown’s analysis and selected agency documents. That does not erase the core facts those documents confirm. Homeland Security collects DNA in immigration settings. The Federal Bureau of Investigation stores profiles in its criminal database. A new rule opens the door to raw DNA and partial profiles from a wide set of people, including sponsors and supporters, not just applicants. When a system shaped for crime-fighting absorbs civil processes, the burden falls on government to set tight bounds—and to prove it follows them.

A conservative test: limited government, clear lines, firm sunsets

Conservatives back strong borders and real identity checks. They also back limited government with bright guardrails. On the facts, the government has blended immigration administration with a criminal DNA system at national scale. That may help solve crimes, but it also builds a permanent file on people who were never charged. A policy that starts with cheek swabs at booking can drift toward swabs at benefits visits. The right fix is not to end DNA tools. It is to narrow them, log them, and sunset what is not proven to work.

What to watch next

Watch the final Department of Homeland Security rule text and how it defines “require,” “request,” and “accept” for DNA. Watch whether the agency codifies strict expungement timelines and public audits of how many profiles go to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and how many come back out. Watch whether Congress reins in continuous vetting across citizens and noncitizens alike. If the state wants the most private data you have, it should meet the highest bar we can write into law—and prove it, in public, every year.