FBI Faces Significant Backlog in DNA Testing for Migrants, Report Finds

The FBI is severely backlogged on DNA testing for migrants and is running out of cash to continue the program, according to government officials whose emails were reviewed by the Daily Caller.

“They [FBI] don’t have enough money to run the program which is a statutory requirement. They are still delivering kits and used to turn them around in 2 months, now they are looking at a 15-month backlog,” one official with Customs and Border Protection said in the internal chain.

CBP is required to conduct DNA tests on criminal arrestees and detained illegal immigrants. In fiscal year 2022, the agency only “collected samples from about 37% of the 1.7 million people it encountered” according to a May 2023 Government Accountability Office report.

The Trump administration in March 2020 strengthened the collection requirement.

Earlier this year FBI Director Christopher Wray told lawmakers he was expecting a “dramatic increase” in samples because of a surge in border crossings. The bureau in the first three months of 2023 handled more than 130,000 samples.

“That gives you a sense of the pretty blistering pace that our folks are having to engage in to test all the samples,” Wray said during testimony before a House appropriations panel in April. “Time is of the essence because in many cases these are leading to and solving sexual assaults, homicides and other serious crimes.”

Border Patrol has been collecting DNA samples from migrants taken into custody at the border since 2020, according to the FBI.

The samples are used by the agency to investigate violent crimes such as homicides and sexual assaults. DHS also used the results to verify family relations.