DHS can’t create vast DNA database to track ICE critics, lawsuit says

Four protesters sued DHS and the FBI to stop DNA taken after anti-ICE protest arrests in Illinois from being collected, stored, and shared in federal databases.

They say the arrests were not for serious crimes, so the government exceeded its authority by adding the samples to systems like CODIS.

The complaint argues the practice amounts to broader surveillance, raising Fourth and First Amendment concerns.

The case could curb how federal agencies use arrest-related DNA collection and whether protest arrests feed expansive biometric databases.