CODIS

Overview

CODIS is the FBI-linked national criminal DNA database discussed in ICE is collecting DNA from detainees for future policing. The episode uses it to show how DNA collected from immigration or federal detainees can become part of future policing searches.

Current Profile

In this source, CODIS is not only a forensic database for criminal investigations. It becomes the durable infrastructure through which DHS and ICE detainee samples can persist after detention, be searched by law enforcement, and affect biological relatives through Genetic Lineup Privacy Risk.

Key Characteristics

• National criminal-policing DNA database linked in the source to the FBI.
• Long-running database with roughly 28 million profiles accumulated over about 25 years, according to the episode.
• Rapidly expanded by about 3.3 million DHS-submitted profiles in recent years.
• Retention appears indefinite to Georgetown’s center, with no regular review-and-removal process identified in the episode.
• Family-exposure risk arises because DNA profiles can implicate biological relatives who were never detained.

Evidence

• Scale and growth - ICE is collecting DNA from detainees for future policing says CODIS has roughly 28 million total profiles and that DHS has added about 3.3 million in recent years.
• Retention concern - ICE is collecting DNA from detainees for future policing attributes the indefinite-retention concern to Stevie Gleiberson and Georgetown’s center.
• Policing use - ICE is collecting DNA from detainees for future policing says CODIS is searched in criminal investigations by policing agencies from federal to local levels.
• Family exposure - ICE is collecting DNA from detainees for future policing links CODIS inclusion to Gleiberson’s “perpetual genetic lineup” warning.

Qualifications

The episode does not include CODIS administrators’ explanation of profile categories, expungement rules, or safeguards. Database scale, projected share, and removal-process claims should remain tied to the Georgetown-centered source until later sources refine them.

What Changed

• Initial profile establishes CODIS as the database infrastructure that turns DHS/ICE DNA collection into a long-term policing issue.

Relationships

• Federal Bureau of Investigation - federal agency associated with the database in the source.
• U.S. Department of Homeland Security - agency whose samples are sent into CODIS.
• U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement - enforcement component tied to detainee sampling.
• Immigration DNA Database Expansion - growth pattern centered on detainee profiles entering CODIS.
• Genetic Lineup Privacy Risk - privacy consequence created by searchable DNA retention.