Wyden confronted the agencies with demands this week to explain the scope, legality, and oversight of the government’s DNA collection. Critics argue the system—which retains information indefinitely by default—was never intended to hold genetic data from civil immigration detainees, especially minors. “By including these children’s DNA in CODIS, their profiles will be queried every time a search is done of the database,” Wyden writes. “When Congress authorized the laws surrounding DNA collection by the federal government over two decades ago, lawmakers sought to address violent crime,” Wyden says. The DHS did not respond to a request for comment about its practice of harvesting children’s DNA.