The Permanent Genetic Ledger: ICE's Expansion of the FBI's CODIS Database
Once the state digitizes your genetic blueprint and dumps it into a criminal database, there is no such thing as 'deleting' your identity.
From a defender's perspective, the most terrifying vulnerability isn't a leaked password or a stolen credit card—it is the permanent, immutable digitization of the human genome by the state. When your genetic blueprint is ingested into a federal system, you are no longer an anonymous citizen; you are a permanent data point in a criminal ledger.
Reporting from Wired reveals a sweeping expansion of DNA collection targeting individuals held for civil immigration violations. As Wired first reported, internal documents and research from Georgetown Law's Center on Privacy and Technology indicate that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has evolved into the largest single source of new genetic profiles in the U.S. criminal DNA system. Specifically, Georgetown estimates that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) may have added as many as roughly 920,000 profiles to the FBI's Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) in 2025 alone.
This represents a fundamental shift in the machinery of surveillance. For years, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) handled the bulk of this collection. Georgetown's analysis of agency spreadsheets shows CBP sent the DNA of at least 1.36 million people to the FBI between October 2020 and the end of 2024. However, the scale shifted violently in 2025. FBI records show the "detainee" index of CODIS grew by roughly 995,000 profiles that year—an average of more than 2,700 people per day. While CBP records show they submitted approximately 75,215 profiles in 2025, Georgetown estimates the remaining gap of up to 919,908 profiles was filled by ICE.
***Opinion:*** *The danger here is the erasure of the distinction between civil administrative processing and criminal investigation. Because undocumented status is generally treated as a civil offense, most people in ICE custody lack a criminal conviction. Yet, these individuals are being funneled into a database built for violent criminals. Once a profile enters CODIS, it can be compared against evidence from unsolved crimes now, or against crime-scene DNA collected decades into the future. Because the physical sample contains the entire genome and is stored in a federal laboratory indefinitely, there is no 'opt-out' once the state has the sample.*
This campaign is being enforced through the threat of prosecution. Wired highlights the case of Hugo Moreno-Mendez, who was arrested by ICE officers in Waco, Texas, on March 13, 2025. Because he declined to provide a DNA swab, Moreno-Mendez faced charges for refusing to provide DNA while in federal custody and failing to register as a noncitizen. Notably, Wired reports that as of 2021, ICE had stated it was unaware that the latter charge had ever been accepted for prosecution. Despite this, a magistrate judge found Moreno-Mendez guilty of both counts on August 18, 2025.
The reach of this program extends to the most vulnerable. Lawmakers, including U.S. representatives Nanette Barragán, Greg Stanton, and Joaquin Castro, issued a joint statement to Wired after learning children were being swabbed at a family detention center in Dilley, Texas. They argued that these children, who have not been convicted of crimes, do not belong in a database meant for violent criminals.
In response to Wired, a DHS spokesperson defended the practice as a border-security and identification measure. Regarding the children at Dilley, DHS pointed to a separate DNA-testing program used to verify family relationships, which it claims is distinct from the CODIS collection. However, DHS did not address Georgetown's estimate regarding the hundreds of thousands of profiles ICE may have added to the criminal database in 2025.