A child occupies himself with screen time as his parents and other asylum seekers wait inside St. Paul and St. Andrew United Methodist Church in Manhattan Oct. 16, 2023 where they were seeking support from Venezuelans and Immigrants Aid, a non-profit organization that provides assistance to asylum seekers. The organization provides a weekly orientation into the asylum process that includes assistance in filing asylum and temporary protected status applications. It also provides english classes, peer support groups, and humanitarian assistance including clothing and food distribution.
Washington D.C. – The United States government has amassed DNA from more than 133,000 migrant children and teenagers over the past four years—part of a sweeping expansion of biometric surveillance at the border. Among those whose DNA was collected was a 4-year-old child, which shows the disturbing scope of a program that places minors in a criminal tracking system built initially for serious offenders.
From October 2020 through 2024, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) swabbed the cheeks of between 829,000 and 2.8 million people in custody, according to official records. Experts estimate that, excluding duplicates, at least 1.5 million individuals had their DNA collected. Of those, 133,539 were under the age of 18. The FBI processed these samples and uploaded them into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), a national database used by law enforcement agencies to investigate crimes.
This expansion has alarmed privacy and immigration advocates. Although the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has policies meant to prevent the collection of DNA from children under 14, the data shows that field officers frequently override this guideline. At least 227 children aged 13 or younger had their DNA submitted to the FBI. In most cases, authorities did not accuse the children of a crime, they were simply recorded as “detainees.”
The inclusion of children in a criminal database raises serious ethical concerns. The FBI designed CODIS to store DNA profiles from people arrested or convicted of serious crimes, not to catalog the genetic information of migrant children who may have only recently learned to read or tie their shoes. While the DNA profiles in CODIS are limited to specific markers used for identification, the full genetic samples—containing a person’s entire genetic code—are retained and could be used in the future for purposes beyond identification.
Despite government claims that DNA collection helps assess public safety threats and may aid in solving crimes, critics argue that this justification does not explain why children, especially those not accused of any wrongdoing, should be entered into a lifelong surveillance system. In theory, if the goal were simply to check for connections to past crimes, a one-time comparison would suffice. Instead, the decision to store these genetic profiles indefinitely suggests a broader—and more troubling—intent.
The number of DNA samples collected has sharply increased in 2024, with some CBP field offices submitting thousands of profiles in a single day. This surge coincides with a rise in border apprehensions. The data also show that some U.S. citizens were among those swabbed, including 53 children who were not arrested on any charges.
Legal and privacy experts warn that this practice could have far-reaching consequences. As the DHS continues to gather more DNA, projections suggest that by 2034, one-third of all profiles in CODIS could come from immigration cases—many involving individuals who were never charged with a crime. The move reflects a growing trend of using genetic surveillance tools against vulnerable populations under the guise of national security and law enforcement efficiency.
