ICE alone may have collected DNA from around 900,000 people in 2025 and added their DNA profiles to the FBI’s criminal policing DNA database.

This year’s update to Raiding the Genome gives us the most striking evidence yet that DHS’s DNA collection program is not about immigration enforcement at all, but about building a national criminal database. Read the report at raidingthegenome.org

First big find: An email in which the government's own lawyers admit that the “primary purpose” of DHS’s DNA collection authority is to “build a national DNA database for solving crimes.”

Today, we’re releasing an update to our 2024 report, Raiding the Genome, and it confirms what we feared: the federal gov’t’s DHS-driven genetic surveillance program is bigger, faster, and more clearly unconstitutional than ever.

On June 4, we welcomed nearly 100 researchers, advocates, technologists, practitioners, individuals with lived expertise, agency leaders, and policymakers to the Georgetown Law campus for a conversation about the growing role of technology in child welfare (or family policing) practice.

Just about a week left to send in your proposals for the Life After Data conference!

We’re excited to have a new incredible Distinguished Fellow join our team! Please join us in welcoming @hypervisible.blacksky.app! Read more about his work here: www.law.georgetown.edu/privacy-tech...

Please join us in welcoming our new Distinguished Fellow, Sushma Raman! She's an experienced social change innovator, leader, and strategic advisor. We're excited for her to join us. Read more about her on our website: www.law.georgetown.edu/privacy-tech...:

Our Associate Marianna Poyares recently spoke with @thewarhorsenews.bsky.social about the multiple technologies deployed around the US-Mexico border. Read all about the current state of border tech here: thewarhorse.org/southern-bor...

Georgetown’s English Dept’s annual Lacay Lecture is on “AI Resistance and Refusal in Higher Education” on April 13th at 5 pm.

The Privacy Center will be hosting a screening of "Digital Detention" and subsequent Q&A with director and producer Caroliana Sanchez-Boe and Denise Gilman (Georgetown Law/UT Texas).

Join us for a joint event with @lawfaremedia.org and @gtowntechlaw.bsky.social, “Installing Updates to ECPA.” The event marks the 40th anniversary of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and features keynote remarks and panels from leading experts on the future of surveillance law.

Join GW’s Health Law and Policy Program and GW’s Center for Law on Friday, February 13th for “Private Matters: Health, Technology, and Battles Over Personal Data.” Featuring our Director of Research & Advocacy Stevie Glaberson, the event will explore pressing issues on privacy in healthcare.

Last fall, local high school student Elina Jadhav reached out to our Executive Director Emily Tucker about a research project she was working on pertaining to the use of surveillance technology by police.

We are partnering with the Georgetown Law Technology Review to host the 2026 Symposium next week. The Symposium features our founder Alvaro Bedoya, our Faculty Advisors Julie Cohen, Paul Ohm, Laura Moy, and one of our Advisory Board members Ulises A. Mejias.

Our ED Emily Tucker recently spoke with @npr.org's Jude Joffe-Block about how ICE surveillance violates privacy and civil rights. Read the article here: www.npr.org/2025/11/08/n....

Check it out: The Metropolitan Washington Workshop on Immigration & Race is holding a discussion TOMORROW. Join for a discussion on how the US surveillance apparatus built on migrant data extractivism extends to all of society. Register here: go.gwu.edu/mwwir.

In September we released an update to our 2024 report, “Raiding the Gnome,” showing that CBP has taken DNA from ~2,000 U.S. citizens without any judicial oversight. The program is illegal and impacts everyone. Hear more from our Director of Research & Advocacy:

Our ED Emily Tucker is speaking on the “Responsible AI and Privacy” panel hosted by Good Systems at UT-Austin this Wednesday 11/19 at 10 AM CST. Join for a discussion about where privacy stands in the technological revolution of AI! Register here (Zoom available): responsibleai2025.splashthat.com.

This Fall, we welcomed Ayah Eldosougi, our new Fritz Fellow, and Taman Mohamed, our new Justice Fellow. They recently sat down to talk privacy, power, and podcasts. Read their conversation here: medium.com/@georgetownp...

Our ED Emily Tucker spoke with @politico.com’s Alfred Ng about ICE's new contract for skip tracing for today’s Morning Tech newsletter. “It’s surveillance that targets people that are typically hard to find in the databases that already exist,” said Tucker.

📢 Georgetown students!! Interested in a career in privacy? Join us on October 20 to hear from professionals who’ve found a range of pathways to their careers in privacy.

Digital Inclusion Week is here and we have an event for you! Dr. Nicol Turner Lee of @brookings.edu will join us to discuss what digital equity can look like as the importance of internet access in the US for economic participation continues to increase.

DHS DNA collection “is illegal, unconstitutional, and deeply corrosive to civil rights and liberties. No amount of coerced ‘consent’ can make it otherwise,” says Privacy Center Dir. of Research & Advocacy Stevie Glaberson.

When we published our 2024 report “Raiding the Genome,” we suspected that DHS agents might be taking DNA from US citizens. We can now confirm that those suspicions were correct. www.raidingthegenome.org

Happening tomorrow! Interested in scholarship surrounding emerging technology and social responsibility? Join us as Professor Ryan Calo dives into his new book, “Law and Technology: A Methodical Approach”!

A finales de 2023, había más de 1.5 millones de perfiles de “detenidos” en la base de datos del CODIS. Esta cifra se disparó a más de 2.3 millones a finales de 2024 y a más de 2,6 millones en abril de 2025.

En 2024 publicamos “Asalto al Genoma: Cómo el Gobierno de los EEUU Abusa de Sus Facultades en Materia de Inmigración para Acumular ADN para Futuras Acciones Policiales.” Hemos seguido investigando el programa de recolección de ADN del DHS. Hoy compartimos algunas novedades. raidingthegenome.org

A book talk you don’t want to miss! Professor at @uwlaw.bsky.social @rcalo.bsky.social, will talk about his new book “Law and Technology: A Methodical Approach,” which explores what scholars and society can do about emerging technology.

At the oversight hearing, Rep. Pressley, citing findings to our recently updated 2024 report, expressed outrage over DHS’s collection of DNA from children for addition to the FBI’s criminal database, CODIS. Read the updated report findings: raidingthegenome.org