The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has increased the collection of DNA profiles from immigrants by 5,000% by adding over 1.5 million profiles to a federal database since 2020, according to a report published by the Georgetown Law Center on Privacy & Technology.
The research center, which focuses on "exposing and opposing government and corporate surveillance in the digital age," as described on its website, attributed the drastic increase to a rule change in 2020 within the Department of Justice, instituted during the Trump administration and maintained by the Biden administration. Said rule empowers the Department of Homeland Security to collect DNA from anyone who has been detained by agents at the border or within the country.
