ICE Collected Nearly 1M People's DNA Last Year–Including Young Children

4 hours ago

ICE has rapidly expanded DNA collection from immigration detainees, with an estimated 920,000 profiles added to CODIS in 2025 alone.
Most detainees have no criminal conviction, yet their DNA enters a criminal database used for solving unsolved crimes.
Refusal to provide DNA can lead to federal prosecution, as seen in the cases of Hugo Moreno-Mendez and Ronald Genao-Diaz.
DNA collection has been applied to children as young as 4, leading to lawsuits and congressional scrutiny.
The program's primary purpose, per an ICE attorney, is building a national DNA database for crime-solving, not just identification.
Lawsuits allege Fourth Amendment violations, including DNA taken from protesters and a U.S. Army veteran without explanation.

Citizens in six states can convene grand juries via petition without official approval.
DOGE employees mishandled Social Security data, admitting to unauthorized transfers and encrypted files.
Grand juries can subpoena witnesses and indict for identity theft, with no presidential pardon possible.

Governments and companies are building massive databases of personal information on an unprecedented scale, reminiscent of surveillance practices that were previously unacceptable due to historical experiences like WWII and the Stasi.
Proposals like mandatory chat monitoring for child pornography ('chat control') and expanded surveillance powers for intelligence agencies are being pushed forward, often with commercial interests from the AI industry.
A vast array of data is now routinely stored: location history, financial transactions, medical records, social media activity, communications, emails, search queries, government interactions, utility usage, car tracking, and even familial DNA data.

The FBI is seeking AI tools for predictive policing to identify potential threats before they act.
The Terrorist Screening Center (TSC) is expanding its focus from Islamist terrorism to domestic dissent.
The procurement document requests AI capabilities for predictive modeling using enhanced data with traceable lineage.

ICE shared Medicaid data it improperly received from CMS with the data analytics firm Palantir, which operates the ELITE app used for deportation enforcement.
The improper data sharing was revealed in a court filing by Democratic attorneys general suing the Trump administration over the data-sharing agreement between CMS and ICE.
A federal judge had limited data sharing, but CMS violated the order by sharing data of millions, including U.S. citizens and legal immigrants, in January.

DNA in living cells is a computing environment that can be described using computer terminology, with elements like digital storage, redundancy, and algorithms.
DNA is digital: 2 bits per nucleotide, with human genome at 750MB, pufferfish at 100MB, and virus at 5KB.
DNA structure is internally redundant like a RAID1 array, with occasional spare helices leading to specific effects.

Citizens in six states can convene grand juries via petition without official approval.
DOGE employees mishandled Social Security data, admitting to unauthorized transfers and encrypted files.
Grand juries can subpoena witnesses and indict for identity theft, with no presidential pardon possible.

Governments and companies are building massive databases of personal information on an unprecedented scale, reminiscent of surveillance practices that were previously unacceptable due to historical experiences like WWII and the Stasi.
Proposals like mandatory chat monitoring for child pornography ('chat control') and expanded surveillance powers for intelligence agencies are being pushed forward, often with commercial interests from the AI industry.
A vast array of data is now routinely stored: location history, financial transactions, medical records, social media activity, communications, emails, search queries, government interactions, utility usage, car tracking, and even familial DNA data.

The FBI is seeking AI tools for predictive policing to identify potential threats before they act.
The Terrorist Screening Center (TSC) is expanding its focus from Islamist terrorism to domestic dissent.
The procurement document requests AI capabilities for predictive modeling using enhanced data with traceable lineage.

ICE shared Medicaid data it improperly received from CMS with the data analytics firm Palantir, which operates the ELITE app used for deportation enforcement.
The improper data sharing was revealed in a court filing by Democratic attorneys general suing the Trump administration over the data-sharing agreement between CMS and ICE.
A federal judge had limited data sharing, but CMS violated the order by sharing data of millions, including U.S. citizens and legal immigrants, in January.

DNA in living cells is a computing environment that can be described using computer terminology, with elements like digital storage, redundancy, and algorithms.
DNA is digital: 2 bits per nucleotide, with human genome at 750MB, pufferfish at 100MB, and virus at 5KB.
DNA structure is internally redundant like a RAID1 array, with occasional spare helices leading to specific effects.

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