DNA From Migrant Children Collected and Stored in Criminal Database

DNA From Migrant Children Collected and Stored in Criminal Database

A child barely old enough to tie his shoes is processed at a border facility in El Paso, Texas. His cheek is swabbed, his DNA extracted, cataloged, and uploaded into a federal database originally designed to track violent offenders. He is four years old. His genetic profile now exists among those of individuals linked to serious crimes, and his name joins over 133,000 other migrant children and adolescents who have been swept into an expanding surveillance effort that was never designed for them.

Newly released records reviewed by WIRED reveal the full scope of a program quietly accelerating under the authority of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Between October 2020 and the end of 2024, CBP took between 829,000 and 2.8 million DNA samples from people in custody. Analysts believe the true total, discounting duplicates, exceeds 1.5 million. Among them are more than 133,000 minors, including 227 children who were 14 years old or younger.

A System Never Built for Children

The samples are sent to the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS, a national forensic database historically used by local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies to solve violent crimes. Initially designed to track the DNA of individuals convicted of serious offenses, CODIS now includes the genetic data of children who have crossed the border without legal authorization. A single day in January 2024 saw 3,930 DNA submissions from the CBP’s Laredo office alone—252 of those came from individuals 17 or younger.

Although the Department of Homeland Security policy generally exempts children under 14 from DNA collection, field agents have discretion. According to the data analyzed, this discretion has been exercised frequently. Among the 227 minors younger than 14 whose genetic material was submitted to the FBI, most are classified simply as “detained.” Only five were listed as having been arrested or charged with a crime.

The collection method is relatively simple. Long cotton swabs scrape the inside of the mouth, yielding a sample that contains a complete genetic blueprint. While only a low-resolution profile is uploaded to CODIS, the raw DNA —the original biological sample — may be stored indefinitely. Experts warn that the existence of such unprocessed genetic material introduces significant long-term risks, especially when stored by government agencies without strict and permanent safeguards.

Migrant Children Are Being Processed as Criminals

The argument from the Department of Justice centers on the potential utility of this practice. Officials have stated that the information can help prevent or solve crimes, both past and future. Under current policy, DNA is collected from anyone whose fingerprints are taken — a process that typically begins at age 14. Yet the policy permits exceptions in cases described as “potentially criminal,” a designation applied in just 2.2 percent of cases involving children under 14.

In the case of the four-year-old in El Paso, records list the child’s status as undocumented and detained, but offer no indication of any criminal charge. The swab was taken. The profile was generated. The information was sent to CODIS.

Permanent Records Without a Sentence

Though officials insist that CODIS data is used only for identification in criminal cases and not for determining race, health, or genetic predisposition, researchers remain skeptical. The policy, they argue, offers insufficient protection. Future administrations may reinterpret its scope, and emerging technologies could allow for more invasive uses of the genetic material already stored.

There is concern that DNA could be used to locate family members, build genetic maps of entire communities, or predict future health needs that could influence whether someone is granted legal entry or support. In theory, the database is a tool for justice. In practice, it risks functioning as a mechanism of preemptive suspicion, casting children as future suspects before they have committed any act.

Even those with a generous view of DNA’s role in law enforcement find the current practice troubling. Experts in genetic policy warn that while CODIS can be invaluable for identifying individuals in cases of violent crime, its expansion to include minors and asylum seekers without criminal charges shifts its purpose into uncharted territory.

The consequences, legal and social, may linger long after the child has grown. His DNA, collected under civil custody, remains in a criminal system. His future, like that of thousands of others, has been quietly imprinted onto a database that was never meant for migrant children who had committed no crime.

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