Marketplace®
Every story is an economic story
Aug 31, 2026

ICE is collecting DNA from detainees for future policing

Stevie Glaberson at Georgetown Law’s Center on Privacy and Technology found that DHS has been collecting DNA samples from detainees — and then sending that genetic information to an FBI database.

Download
ICE is collecting DNA from detainees for future policing
Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images

Subscribe:

Immigration and Customs Enforcement may be responsible for collecting the DNA of nearly a million people in 2025. The genetic material is then sent to the FBI, where it can be stored for future policing. That’s according to an updated report from Georgetown Law’s Center on Privacy and Technology.

Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino spoke with Stevie Glaberson, a co-author of the report, about the DNA collection practice — and its legal implications.

More on this

Raiding the Genome: How the United States Government Is Abusing Its Immigration Powers to Amass DNA for Future Policing | Center on Privacy and Technology | Georgetown Law from Georgetown Law

ICE Collected Nearly 1 Million People’s DNA Last Year—Including Young Children | WIRED from Wired

The Team