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Raiding the Genome: How the United States Government Is Abusing Its Immigration Powers to Amass DNA for Future Policing

Raiding the Genome: How the United States Government Is Abusing Its Immigration Powers to Amass DNA for Future Policing

The U.S. government has a message to immigrant communities: we’re watching you, at the genetic level.

Raiding the Genome: How the United States Government Is Abusing Its Immigration Powers to Amass DNA for Future Policing explains and analyzes the drastic expansion of DNA collection at the Department of Homeland Security. DHS’s DNA collection program operates with essentially no oversight, and the DNA taken is used for future criminal policing and prosecution.

Read the original 2024 report, 2025 and 2026 updates, and issue-specific briefs, and explore statistics about the program, below:

Publications: 

  • **NEW** Update: July 2026 (Actualización: julio de 2026) (ENG) (ESP próximamente)
  • Issue Brief: Raiding the (U.S. Citizen) Genome (published September 2025) (ENG) (ESP)
  • Update to original report: July 2025 (Actualización: julio de 2025) (ENG) (ESP)
  • Original report (ENG): Raiding the Genome: How the United States Government Is Abusing Its Immigration Powers to Amass DNA for Future Policing (2024 Report) (2024 Executive Summary)
  • Informe original (ESP): Asalto Al Genoma: Cómo El Gobierno De Los Estados Unidos Abusa De Sus Facultades En Materia De Inmigración Para Acumular ADN Para Futuras Acciones Policiales (Informe de 2024) (Resumen Ejecutivo de 2024)

Statistics: 

Growth of DHS DNA collection over time: 

Graph showing the growth in (a) the number of profiles in the CODIS ‘Detainee’ index and (b) the change over the previous year, from August 2016 to December 2025. Graph shows the Detainee index containing 23,212 profiles in August 2016, and growing to 3,345,692 in Dec. 2025. Figures for the change from previous year hover around 1,000-2,000 from 2016-2020, then steadily rise to reach 995,123 for the year from Dec. 2024 to Dec. 2025.]

Since the first Trump administration changed the rules on DNA collection at DHS, the number of people’s DNA profiles in the CODIS index to which DHS contributes has skyrocketed. From near zero in 2020, there are now at least 3.3 million people’s DNA profiles in the national criminal DNA database. From the federal government adding just one-to-two thousand individuals’ profiles per year under this authority, the government now captures the DNA of nearly 1 million people annually.

Line graph showing increase in profiles in CODIS from 2020-2025

The “detainee” index is housed within a CODIS index labelled “Offender” (despite the individuals from whom DHS collects DNA being accused of no crime). The “offender” index is the database against which police run crime scene sample searches nationwide. Before the DOJ’s 2020 Rule change, DNA from people “detained” under the authority of the United States made up a miniscule percentage of the profiles in this index (about 0.2%). The data we gathered shows that by December 2025, that percentage had increased drastically to more than 17%. If both DHS and the criminal legal system continue amassing DNA from people at the pace they did in 2025, DHS may have added more than one-third of the FBI’s criminal DNA database by 2030.

Pie charts showing proportion of DHS contributed profiles plus projection of profiles in CODIS by 2030.

Information last updated: August 2026