Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) is seeking information from the Trump administration about what he called its “chilling expansion” of efforts to collect DNA from migrants, including children, as it carries out its sweeping immigration crackdown.
“It appears the only basis for this DNA surveillance is to further the Trump administration’s animus toward immigrants,” Wyden wrote in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Attorney General Pam Bondi this week. “I worry that such broad DNA surveillance led by your Departments may result in the over-policing of immigrant communities and deter them from seeking out essential services.”
The Democratic senator’s office released the letter Thursday.
Wyden cited research from the Georgetown University School of Law released this month that found the number of DNA samples Customs and Border Protection (CBP) collected and sent to the federal Combined DNA Index System has swelled more than 5,000 percent in the past five years.
More than a quarter of a million people were added to government DNA database by CBP in the first four months of this year, the researchers found.
In the letter, Wyden asked the Trump administration to provide him information by Aug. 1 to explain the U.S.’s “interest in collecting and retaining DNA from noncitizens in the course of immigration detention and enforcement,” which agencies are gathering DNA and how the biometric information is being used.
“What information are DOJ and DHS, respectively, able to extract from the DNA they retain?” he wrote. “Is DNA accessed to determine any ethnographic or racial information about the individual?”
Wyden claimed that DNA could ultimately fall into a system where it is “used by law enforcement for every potential future investigation,” and noted that the Georgetown researchers found thousands of children had been the subject of DNA collections, including a 4-year-old.
“There are many unknowns and unanswered questions about the Trump administration’s rule expanding DNA data collection,” Wyden wrote.
The Democratic senator compared the collection effort to China, which the U.S. has condemned over its involuntary gathering of DNA.
“Governments exercising such broad discretion to involuntarily collect and retain DNA are repressive authoritarian regimes also engaging in gross human rights violations, such as genocide, ethnic cleansing, torture and more,” he wrote.
A DHS spokesperson told The Hill in a statement that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) collects DNA samples of people who are arrested on federal criminal charges and from migrants detained “who are subject to fingerprinting and not otherwise exempt from the collection requirement.”
“In order to secure our borders, CBP is devoting every resource available to identify who is entering our country,” DHS said. “We are not letting terrorists, human smugglers, child sex traffickers, and other criminals enter American communities.”
The Department of Justice (DOJ) did not immediately respond to The Hill’s requests for comment on the letter.
Democrats previously raised concerns about the use of DNA in immigration enforcement efforts during Trump’s first administration and a pilot program that was carried out to collect biometric samples from migrants in custody.
Former President Biden’s administration rejected a proposal from Trump’s first term to expand collection efforts.
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