Marketplace Tech · Monday, August 31, 2026
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has significantly increased its collection of DNA from individuals in its custody, with nearly a million people's DNA collected last year. Following a 2020 policy change, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is now the primary contributor to the FBI's CODIS database, potentially making up a third of its profiles by 2030.
“Immigration and Customs Enforcement collected the DNA of nearly a million people last year, according to a new analysis from Georgetown Law's Center on Privacy and Technology.”
“In the last couple years, since basically a rule change that happened in the first Trump administration, DHS has now started acting, um, sort of as this like massive DNA collector for the federal government.”
“And in just a couple of years, we've seen them add 3.3 million people's DNA to CODIS.”