I can’t believe nobody commented on this story.
I Just found out about it earlier today through a random YouTube Short:
The video led me to the Wired article below which I was going to make a post about until I saw that @KevPham had already shared this story via Biometric Update.
https://www.wired.com/story/dhs-has-been-collecting-us-citizens-dna-for-years/
TL;DR:
BIOMETRIC UPDATE (BU): In May 2024, researchers at Georgetown Law’s Center on Privacy & Technology released a sprawling report on how the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had quietly built one of the most expansive DNA surveillance systems in American history.
More than 1.5 million genetic profiles were funneled into the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) in just four years, dwarfing the pace of criminal law enforcement collection.
WE SHOULD CARE ABOUT EVERYONE’S PRIVACY BEING INVADED
BU: The report warned that immigration powers were being twisted into a tool for population-scale genetic monitoring, with people of color disproportionately swept up into the system.
Earlier this month, the Center on Privacy & Technology disclosed in an issue brief that between 2020 and 2024, CBP knowingly and repeatedly took DNA from approximately 2,000 U.S. citizens, including at least 95 minors, and sent those samples for inclusion in CODIS.
The original report dates back from 2024 and involved 1.5 million non-US citizens who are either traveling or living in the US. The update to the report is from last month and involves 2000+ US citizen.
It seems apparent to me that the only reason this story is making more noise on social media is because now it’s happening to Americans, i.e. citizens. The video above that found its way to my algorithm is from an American lawyer’s YouTube channel and only mentions the American citizens. Not the 1.5 million non-citizens to whom this happened to.
Legal practitioners in the US don’t just defend citizen but also non-citizens, so it’s surprising to me that this lawyer would fail to mention the bigger breach.
As the article says:
BU: “Regardless of the citizenship status of the people from whom DHS takes DNA, this program must be understood as a leap toward universal genetic surveillance in the guise of immigration enforcement,” the Georgetown researchers declared.
[…]
“Noncitizens are most at risk because of DHS’s activities, but this program affects everyone,” the Center on Privacy & Technology said, pointing out that “DNA samples can reveal information not just about an individual’s most intimate personal details such as their biological sex, ancestry, health, and predisposition to disease, but also their biological relations today and across generations.”
Just because you are not a citizen of the country you live in or are travelling through, doesn’t mean you don’t have rights. And people should care about your rights too.
BU: The legal stakes are clear. Federal law allows DNA collection from people arrested, charged, or convicted of crimes, and from noncitizens detained under federal authority. But nothing authorizes DHS to collect DNA from citizens absent criminal process. By doing so, the agency has exceeded its statutory limits and crossed constitutional boundaries.
BU: For years, researchers had not documented a single case of someone refusing DNA collection, in part because refusal is a federal misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in prison. But records released under the FOIA show that between January and July 2024, at least 174 people told CBP they would not comply. The government has provided no information about what happened to them afterward.
THE SURVEILLANCE COMPANIES POWERING SURVEILLANCE STATES NEED TO BE EXPOSED AND DISMANTLED
BU: The software infrastructure used to stitch together genetic profiles with other biometric and personal data collected by the federal government is provided through lucrative contracts awarded by the Trump administration to Palantir, a company specializing in surveillance technology that has intimate ties to the White House.
I recently shared in various comments that one of my banks is now forcing facial recognition in order to use their app. I intend to inquire about whom the company behind their facial tech is, what exactly they do with my data, and report them to my data protection agency in hopes that I can opt out and continue to bank unencumbered.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Thank you, @KevPham, for this very comprehensive article by Biometric Update. It made me dive into what feels like a bottomless hole of fascinating information and resources. Thanks to you, I discovered the Center on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown Law, and by extension the Distributed Artificial Intelligence Research Institute (DAIR). I intend to follow their work and their staff on social media. There are so many, and I recommend you follow them too, starting with the socials below.
Center on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown Law:
Distributed Artificial Intelligence Research Institute (DAIR):