DHS Proposes Billion-Dollar Expansion of DNA Testing for Immigrants

(UNITED STATES) The Department of Homeland Security on November 3, 2025 proposed a sweeping rule to dramatically expand the collection and use of biometric data across the U.S. immigration system, including DNA testing for millions of people each year. The plan, published for public comment, would remove all age limits and require children — even infants — to provide fingerprints, facial images, iris scans, voiceprints, and in some cases DNA samples, as part of identity checks tied to immigration benefits. DHS estimates the program would affect more than 3 million people annually, carry an estimated $288.7 million in yearly costs, and total $2.5 billion over a decade.

The proposal would cover not only foreign nationals applying for immigration benefits, but also U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents connected to filings as sponsors or petitioners. It would extend into immigration court by encompassing those in removal proceedings and impose continuous vetting on people who receive immigration benefits, monitoring them through repeated checks until they naturalize. DHS framed the overhaul as a security and fraud-prevention measure.

“Using biometrics for identity verification and management will assist DHS’s efforts to combat trafficking, confirm the results of biographical criminal history checks, and deter fraud,” the department stated.

DHS officials said the rule is intended to “strengthen identity management, national security vetting, and fraud prevention.”

The move revives, and expands, an earlier initiative first introduced in September 2020 but withdrawn in May 2021 by the Biden administration. This version goes further by explicitly removing all age ceilings on collection, authorizing DNA testing for a wider range of immigration benefit cases, and formalizing continuous vetting requirements for those who remain in the United States on temporary or permanent pathways short of citizenship. The department’s notice makes clear the government could require, request, or accept raw DNA and DNA test results to verify claimed or unclaimed genetic relationships or biological sex, and to use, store, and share those results for immigration adjudications or law enforcement purposes.

Under the plan, DNA testing becomes a standard tool DHS could deploy across case types where identity or family links are relevant to immigration benefits, such as petitions that depend on proving a genetic relationship. The rule’s reach, however, is broader than family-based filings alone. Because it applies to all applicants for immigration benefits regardless of age or application type, it sweeps in work, student, humanitarian, and long-term status categories, with DNA testing available to the government in scenarios where it deems it necessary. People whose cases are approved would not be finished with screening. DHS describes ongoing checks as part of a “continuous vetting” system, meaning biometric data collected at the front end could be used again to re-check identities and criminal history results while applicants live, study, or work in the country, and until they become citizens.

The removal of age limits represents one of the proposal’s most striking shifts. DHS says children and infants could be fingerprinted and DNA-tested at the border or inside the country when tied to immigration benefits or other proceedings. The agency argues that these measures can help prevent child trafficking and detect fraudulent family claims. The plan extends beyond noncitizens to touch U.S. citizens and green card holders who act as sponsors, including Americans petitioning for relatives. Those sponsors would face background checks and biometric collection consistent with child protection and marriage broker laws, adding a new layer of required screening to a process many families have long viewed as purely documentary.

If finalized, the rule would embed DNA testing more deeply into immigration adjudication, pairing it with a wider pool of biometric data types such as fingerprints, facial images, iris scans, and voiceprints. DHS says the combined approach will give adjudicators more reliable tools to verify identity, confirm the results of biographical criminal history checks, and help deter fraud schemes that have dogged some benefit categories for years. Because the proposal permits collection of raw DNA and acceptance of DNA test results, it anticipates multiple pathways for the government to acquire genetic information, depending on the specifics of each case. The department’s description also contemplates the use, storage, and sharing of DNA testing outcomes in immigration and law enforcement contexts, and it would enable data sharing with federal, state, local, and some foreign agencies.

The scope is vast. DHS projects more than 3 million people per year would be touched by the expanded biometric data regime, with operational costs pegged at $288.7 million per year and $2.5 billion over 10 years. The department’s estimates capture the scale of collecting and using multiple modalities — fingerprints, photos, iris scans, voiceprints, and DNA — across a system that processes large volumes of work permits, green card applications, humanitarian cases, and family petitions. The agency says modernized screening will shore up identity management by bringing multiple identifiers into play, reducing reliance on documents alone. Officials argue that sustained, periodic vetting will keep background checks current, improving detection of risks that emerge after an initial approval.

Privacy advocates and immigrant rights groups, however, have raised alarms in response to the prospect of routine DNA testing and the long-term storage and sharing of biometric data. Critics say the government has not clearly defined limits on how genetic information will be used, retained, or shared, and warn of risks if data moves between federal systems, state and local databases, and partners in other countries. Questions about data retention timelines, deletion protocols, and guardrails on secondary use have followed earlier biometric initiatives, and civil liberties groups say those concerns are magnified when the government collects DNA from children, including those as young as 4 years old. The proposal’s authorization for collection from infants underscores the breadth of the change and its potential to reshape everyday interactions between families and the immigration system.

For immigrant families, the real-world impact could be recurring contact with DHS systems for years. People who gain immigration benefits might be called for follow-up biometrics checks when renewing work authorization, extending status, adjusting status, or whenever the government conducts periodic vetting. The plan’s emphasis on continuous monitoring means that biometric data captured once — a facial image, a set of fingerprints, an iris scan, or a voiceprint — could anchor future checks, especially if DHS proactively screens records to detect changes. DNA testing, used to confirm identity and relationships where needed, would sit within that broader web of biometric data.

U.S. citizens who file petitions for family members would also feel new effects. The proposal states that sponsors will be subject to criminal history checks as part of compliance with child protection and marriage broker laws, and that their biometric data can be collected in connection with those checks. For many American families, that would mark a shift from paperwork and affidavits to a process that includes fingerprints or other biometrics, with possible implications for processing timelines and privacy. The plan’s data-sharing provisions — enabling connections with federal, state, local, and some foreign agencies — extend those implications beyond DHS, potentially touching multiple layers of government.

DHS is seeking input from the public before finalizing the rule. The proposal opened a 60-day public comment period beginning November 3, 2025, inviting feedback from stakeholders ranging from immigration attorneys to community groups and individuals who might be subject to the expanded screening. The rule is not yet in effect, and DHS says implementation would occur after it reviews and responds to public comments and issues a final version — a process that could take several months or longer. The agency has asked for comments on operational considerations and policy choices embedded in the proposal, including the breadth of age coverage, the parameters for DNA testing, and the mechanics of continuous vetting.

The political context is notable. The administration of President Trump has framed tougher identity checks and more extensive surveillance within the immigration system as central to preventing fraud and enhancing public safety, and the revival of this proposal lines up with those priorities. The previous version, launched in 2020, did not move forward after it was withdrawn in 2021 by the Biden administration. Bringing back an expanded version underscores the current administration’s focus on increasing scrutiny of immigrants and their families, a stance that supporters call overdue and opponents say risks sweeping in vast amounts of sensitive data without adequate protections.

While the department’s notice highlights trafficking prevention and fraud deterrence, much of the debate is likely to center on how the government handles biometric data at scale. DNA testing raises unique concerns because genetic information can reveal biological relationships and personal attributes beyond identity confirmation. Privacy advocates argue that the proposal does not spell out clear guardrails for data retention and downstream sharing with law enforcement or foreign partners, and warn of risks if biometric repositories grow faster than oversight mechanisms. DHS, for its part, says the combined use of fingerprints, facial images, iris scans, voiceprints, and DNA testing will deliver more accurate identity verification, support background checks, and reduce opportunities for fraud, with the added benefit of identifying trafficking scenarios in real time.

Families navigating immigration benefits could find themselves making practical choices about how to respond to requests for DNA, especially in cases where documentary evidence is scarce or disputed. The proposal envisions DNA testing as one way to confirm a parent-child relationship or to assess claims involving siblings or other relatives. It also permits the department to accept test results, which could shape how applicants gather evidence before filing. The expansion to include U.S. citizen sponsors means American parents, spouses, and siblings who previously focused on forms and birth records may be asked to participate in biometric steps that were once reserved for the noncitizen applicant.

Operationally, the cost projections capture the scale of the transformation. Running annual costs of $288.7 million reflect the infrastructure needed to collect, store, and process large volumes of biometric data — from scheduling and capture to backend vetting and data-sharing interfaces. Over 10 years, DHS expects outlays to reach $2.5 billion, a figure that encompasses both the expansion to new populations and the ongoing maintenance of continuous vetting. The department’s notice makes clear that the expanded system is designed to keep identity checks live throughout a person’s time in the United States until naturalization, putting long-term residents and temporary visa holders alike under repeated biometric screening cycles.

For the millions of people who apply for immigration benefits each year, the practical change would be a baseline expectation that biometrics — potentially including DNA testing — will be part of the process no matter the applicant’s age. For U.S. citizens involved as sponsors, it would mean a shift toward submitting fingerprints or other biometrics as a routine step, followed by criminal history checks tied to child protection and marriage broker laws. For children encountered at the border or inside the country, the proposal contemplates fingerprinting and collecting DNA where DHS deems it necessary to confirm identity and family ties. And for those who ultimately secure approvals, it would mean staying inside a system that continues to check identities and background results over time.

Public participation is now the main lever for change. During the 60-day comment window from November 3, 2025, advocacy groups, practitioners, and individuals can submit views on how the rule should be tailored, what limits should govern biometric data sharing, and how long DNA and other data should be retained. The notice was published in the Federal Register, which provides instructions on how to file comments. DHS says it will consider all submissions before issuing a final rule, and that the proposal is not in effect until that process is complete.

As the debate unfolds, two core themes have already emerged. One is DHS’s assertion that more and better biometric tools — fingerprints, facial images, iris scans, voiceprints, and DNA testing — will tighten identity verification, reinforce national security vetting, deter fraud, and disrupt trafficking schemes. The other is the unease among privacy advocates and immigrant groups over building a system that can collect, store, and share genetic and other sensitive information on millions of people each year without detailed, transparent limits. The months ahead, defined by the public comment process and eventual agency response, will determine how far the United States goes in making biometric data the backbone of immigration benefits and ongoing vetting for noncitizens and the Americans connected to them.