The Department of Homeland Security has been collecting DNA from migrants detained at the U.S. southern border since 2019. Mark Morgan, former acting commissioner of Customs and Border Protection said that at the beginning of the Trump administration, if migrants came to the border as a family, doing so would be their passport into the country.
Morgan appeared on the television news program “The National Desk” in June.
“It didn’t take long for the migrants and cartels to realize that and exploit that,” Morgan said. “And what we saw during the Trump administration was that fake families were actually being formed, meaning kids, minors, were actually being bought and sold and rented to form these fake families, because again, it was their automatic passport to the United States.
“What we did, as soon as we learned that, was to implement this rapid DNA testing, as well as put additional ICE agents there to conduct interviews, and what we saw was an enormous amount of fake families and essentially we shut that down.”
DNA testing is still happening at the southern border, and it’s being used to expand the FBI’s genetic database.
The DNA is being collected and then submitted to the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System (CODIS). Originally, the system was limited to the DNA of convicted criminals.
After more than a million new DNA profiles were added to CODIS last year, the FBI asked Congress for an additional $53 million in the 2024 budget to fund the DNA initiative.
The bureau says the increase in funding will help it to process the expanding number of DNA samples being collected by DHS.
FBI Director Christopher Wray testified before a House Appropriations Subcommittee in April.
“I can assure you that the sheer number of these DNA samples that we’re processing, that CBP collects at the border, and then testing to potentially solve any number of violent crimes,” Wray said. “We’re talking about sexual assaults, homicides, so this is important work. And often, the DNA is the secret sauce. It’s the critical piece that solves the crime and the number has been going up significantly, which is why we made the request that we did.”
The growing genetic database is causing concern for civil liberties advocates.
According to the ACLU’s website, “Our DNA can reveal some of our most personal and private information. As genetic sequencing becomes faster and cheaper, there’s a growing risk of that information being collected and used against us or without our consent.”
ICE agents aren’t just collecting DNA samples from migrants. According to a report from The Guardian, the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program, run on behalf of ICE by B.I. Incorporated “keeps track of migrants through ankle monitors, smartwatch trackers, phone check-ins or in-person visits.”
The program tracks at least 200,000 migrants and can store their personal data for up to 75 years.
DHS is also learning about migrants’ gang, cartel and terrorism affiliations. However, DHS won’t release that information citing “privacy concerns.”
The America First Legal Foundation (AFL) is suing to have the information released, but DHS is fighting back.
In a court filing from August, DHS says “ICE properly withheld gang, cartel, and terrorist group affiliations of noncitizens under exemptions 7(C), because disclosure would invade noncitizens’ personal privacy without any countervailing public interest.”
Now, AFL is challenging that in court. In a counter motion filed earlier in September, AFL argues “FOIA’s privacy protections do not provide the same privacy rights for non-citizens as for citizens,” and that “this information will allow the public to determine if these aliens present serious public safety risks based on their criminal activity.”
The AFL lawsuit marks the latest conflict for border enforcement advocates trying to extract information from the Biden administration on undocumented migrants being let into America’s interior.
