The Federal Bureau of Investigation is way behind on testing migrants’ DNA, and the agency will soon have no more money to ensure the program continues.
This week, the Daily Caller News Foundation reviewed an internal email chain from Department of Homeland Security officials that shows a huge backlog of 15 months in conducting DNA testing on migrants entering the U.S.
The FBI is supposed to test the DNA of any migrant who is at least 14 years old, and then store and analyze the data for usage by federal border agencies, the emails show.
The data, stored in the Combined DNA Index System — more commonly known as CODIS — is utilized by local, state, and federal laboratories to connect illegal immigrants to other crimes they may have committed.
Yet, the huge surge in migrants at the southern border has caused quite a logjam in the processing and handling of the samples. Voice of America reported in the spring that FBI Director Christopher Wray had raised concerns about this “dramatic increase” in the number of samples the FBI would have to process.
According to one official at Customs and Border Protection who was responding to a question posed by a reporter for The Washington Post, the DNA testing program is required by statute. And while the agency used to be able to turn the analysis around in about two months, “they are now looking at a 15-month backlog.”
EXCLUSIVE: It appears I may have been accidentally put in an internal DHS email chain, where officials discussed how to respond to WaPo about DNA testing migrants
The emails say the FBI has a 15 month backlog on DNA testing & is running out of $ for ithttps://t.co/dzFm9FY90t pic.twitter.com/5HDzwIu8MC
— Jennie Taer 🇮🇱🇺🇸 (@JennieSTaer) December 29, 2023
Over the last two years, a record number of immigrants have tried to cross from Mexico into the U.S. illegally. Federal data shows CBP agents had 2.2 million encounters with illegal migrants during the 2022 fiscal year and another 2 million during the 2023 fiscal year.
According to one part of the email chain, the CBP official wrote that the agency quickly releases any migrant who isn’t wanted for a crime. They hold migrants in custody for as much as 72 hours, the official wrote, and are then released.
Those who are found to be wanted in connection to a crime then get transferred to the law enforcement agency that is seeking them.
