USA The Government has compiled DNA samples of more than 133,000 migrant children and adolescents, including at least one 4 -year -old child, and uploaded their genetic data in a national criminal database used by the local, state and federal police, according to documents reviewed by Wired.
The records, released in silence by the customs and border protection of the USA at the beginning of this year, offer the most detailed aspect to date on the scale of the controversial CBP DNA collection program. They reveal for the first time how deeply the biometric surveillance of the government reaches the lives of migrant children, some of whom may still be learning to read or tie their shoes, but whose DNA is now stored in an originally built system for convict and violent criminal criminals.
The Department of Justice has argued that the extensive DNA collection activity on the border provides “an evaluation of danger” that a migrant potentially “is raised for the public” and will essentially help solve crimes that can be eaten in the future. Experts say that the raw genetic material of children will be stored indefinitely and will worry that, without the appropriate railings, the DNA drag network could eventually be used for a more extensive profile.
With a cover from October 2020 to the end of 2024, the records show that CBP extended along the cheeks between 829,000 and 2.8 million people, with experts who estimate that the true figure, excluding duplicate, is likely to exceed 1.5 million. That number includes up to 133,539 children and adolescents. These figures mark a radical expansion of biometric surveillance, one that explicitly addresses migrant populations, including children.
DNA samples are recorded in the combined DNA index system, or CODIS, a database managed by the FBI, which processes DNA and stores the resulting genetic profiles. A network of criminal forensic databases, CODIS is used by local, state and federal compliance agencies so that they coincide with the DNA compiled from crimes or conviction scenes to identify suspects.
On May 10, 2024, for example, the records say that the CBP agents of the Field El Paso, Texas office, collected a DNA sample of an individual’s mouth under his custody to whom CBP identified as Cuban and was arrested for allegedly being an “immigrant with documents with W/O”. When merging the cheek of the individuals, the agents obtained a DNA sample containing the entire genetic code of the individual and then sent the sample to the FBI for processing.
According to CBP records, the individual was only 4 years old.
Of the tens of thousands of minors whose DNA was collected by customs and border protection in the last four years, up to 227 were 13 or less, including the 4 -year -old child. The National Security Policy Department establishes that people under 14 are generally exempt from DNA collection, but field officers have the discretion of collecting DNA in some circumstances. The data show additional tickets for children of 10, 11, 12 and 13. The numbers increase from the age of 14; More than 30,000 tickets were recorded for each age group from 14 to 17.
“To ensure our borders, CBP is dedicating all the resources available to identify who enters our country. We are not letting human smuggers, child sex traffickers and other criminals enter the US communities,” said Hilton Beckham, commissioner assistant to Public Affairs on CBP, Wired in a statement. “To this end, CBP collects DNA samples for submission to the FBI combined DNA index (CODIS) of people with CBP custody that are arrested for federal criminal charges, and foreigners detained under the authority of CBP that are subject to fingerprints and not exempt from the collection requirements.”
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