ICE expands DNA collection, adds hundreds of thousands to FBI database

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Internal documents, ICE training slides, FBI index counts, and a Georgetown Law analysis show a sharp expansion of DNA collection from people held for immigration violations, with the FBI detainee index reaching 3,345,692 profiles by December 2025 and roughly 995,000 added that year. Georgetown estimates ICE may have contributed as many as 919,908 of those profiles in 2025. Many sampled people have no criminal convictions, children were among those swabbed, and samples sent to CODIS are searchable against past and future crime-scene evidence, prompting prosecutions for refusal, lawsuits, and congressional scrutiny.

Hundreds of thousands of nonconvicted detainees' DNA entered the FBI database