An open letter to the U.S. Congress

Stop Warrantless DNA Collection from Immigration Detainees and Children

348 so far! Help us get to 500 signers!

End this program. ICE is forcibly collecting DNA from people who have never been convicted of any crime — including children as young as 4 years old — and feeding their genetic profiles into an FBI criminal database. Georgetown Law estimates ICE added nearly 920,000 profiles to CODIS in 2025 alone. That is more than 2,700 people a day, every day, having their most intimate biological data seized without suspicion and stored indefinitely. This is not border security. ICE's own attorney admitted in writing that the program's "primary purpose" is building a national database for solving crimes. The people being swabbed are overwhelmingly civil detainees. Families at the Dilley detention center in Texas — including children who have no idea why their cheeks are being swabbed — are being entered into a system built for violent criminals. Representatives Castro, Stanton, and Barragán said it plainly: "They do not belong in a database meant for violent criminals, especially children." ICE has conducted no civil rights assessment of this practice. The DHS inspector general claimed to have a report on it — and produced nothing. I want you to act. Demand a full congressional investigation, co-sponsor legislation to halt warrantless DNA collection from civil immigration detainees, and push for the expungement of profiles collected without probable cause. The Fourth Amendment does not have a carve-out for people who look like they might be undocumented. This is happening right now, and silence is a choice.

▶ Created on August 11 by Jessica

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