US border patrol collected DNA from thousands of US citizens for years, data shows
By Johana Bhuiyan,
The Guardian
| 09. 23. 2025
In March 2021, a 25-year-old US citizen was traveling through Chicago’s Midway airport when they were stopped by US border patrol agents. Though charged with no crime, the 25-year-old was subjected to a cheek swab to collect their DNA, which was sent to the FBI, according to a new report. The unnamed citizen was later admitted into the country. Their DNA was added to the FBI’s database of genetic material despite the lack of criminal charges.
The 25-year-old is one of about 2,000 US citizens whose DNA was collected between 2020 and 2024 by the Department of Homeland Security and shared with the FBI, researchers from Georgetown’s Center on Privacy and Technology found in an analysis of recently released data from US Customs and Border Protection (CBP). CBP officers took genetic material from some citizens as young as 14, according to the report.
“In a flagrant and alarming abuse of power, the DHS has been regularly collecting DNA from US citizens without legal justification,” said Stevie Glaberson, the director of research and advocacy at Georgetown’s privacy center. “The lack of...
Related Articles
By Scott Solomon, The MIT Press Reader | 02.12.2026
Chris Mason is a man in a hurry.
“Sometimes walking from the subway to the lab takes too long, so I’ll start running,” he told me over breakfast at a bistro near his home in Brooklyn on a crisp...
By Katrina Miller, The New York TImes | 02.05.2026
Joseph Yracheta: The Native Biodata Consortium is the first nonprofit data and sample repository within the geographic bounds and legal jurisdiction of an American Indian nation, on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation in Eagle Butte, S.D.
NativeBio participated in a ...
By David Jensen, California Stem Cell Report | 02.10.2026
Touchy issues involving accusations that California’s $12 billion gene and stem cell research agency is pushing aside “good science” in favor of new priorities and preferences will be aired again in late March at a public meeting in Sacramento.
The...
By Lauren Hammer Breslow and Vanessa Smith, Bill of Health | 01.28.2026
On Jan. 24, 2026, the New York Times reported that DNA sequences contributed by children and families to support a federal effort to understand adolescent brain development were later co-opted by other researchers and used to publish “race science”...
