NPR: ICE officers are taking DNA samples from protesters they've arrested

[DBoon]

https://www.npr.org/2026/03/18/nx-s1-5739257/ice-officers-dna-protesters-database

...
NPR has found dozens of examples of people who said federal officers told them they were committing a crime while peacefully observing immigration activity, which civil rights lawyers say is constitutionally protected behavior.

Andrew Birrell, president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, says he worries that gathering protesters' DNA could have a chilling effect on free speech.

"The Court was not imagining a First Amendment situation," Birrell says. "It's very concerning to me because what it looks like the government is doing is creating this catalog of political dissidents."
...
DNA tests can reveal information about a person's ancestry, their risk for developing certain health conditions, and their likelihood of having certain personality traits. The fear, Murphy says, is that all that data could be weaponized – and that extends beyond the risk to a single person.

[thucythucy]

1. I'd like to see DNA samples taken from ICE agents

so they can be matched with the samples contained in rape kits from across the country.

Just a thought.

[wnylib]

2. And matched with other crimes, too.

How many will be pardoned J6 criminals?

[thucythucy]

3. Good point. nt