An investigative report by The Intercept found that the FBI has accumulated more than 20 million DNA profiles and is currently seeking to double its DNA catalog budget for the next fiscal year.
The collection of so much DNA data has prompted some civil liberty activist organizations to express alarm.
“When we’re talking about rapid expansion like this, it’s getting us ever closer to a universal DNA database,” claimed Vera Eidelman, a staff attorney at the left-leaning American Civil Liberties Union, speaking with The Intercept. “I think the civil liberties implications here are significant.”
The current number of profiles amassed by the federal agency is approximately 21.7 million, which amounts to roughly 7% of the entire U.S. population. However, many of the profiles are allegedly those of unlawful migrants processed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
DHS began collecting DNA samples from detained migrants in 2019 in an effort to crack down on human smuggling, screening individuals to see whether they were posing as families, according to CNN.
Two years later, the FBI boasted that it had added a total of 20 million DNA profiles to its national DNA database. The database was established in 1990 and initially focused on collecting DNA from convicted criminals, crime scenes, and unidentified remains, primarily those related to violent or sexual offenses.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, the database was recently used to identify a murder victim in Texas from 44 years ago.
Now, in part due to the DNA protocols pertaining to unlawful migrants, the FBI is collecting approximately 90,000 samples per month, with projections indicating the number could reach 120,000 monthly, totaling 1.5 million new DNA samples annually.
“While the FBI has worked with DHS components to automate and streamline [DNA profile] workflows, a backlog of approximately 650,000 samples has developed, increasing the likelihood of arrestees and non-U.S. detainees being released before identification through investigative leads,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray back in April.
The FBI’s current catalog budget is $56.7 million. Officials at the agency have asked for $53.1 million more in taxpayer money, allegedly to handle the influx of DHS samples.
Furthermore, more and more state and local law enforcement agencies are harvesting DNA samples from suspects.
“The ACLU warned that this was going to be a slippery slope, and that’s indeed what we’ve seen. … It changed massively. You only have to be a person of interest to end up in these databases,” claimed Harvard ethicist Anna Lewis, according to The Intercept.
