Four protesters arrested at the Broadview ICE facility in Chicago are suing DHS and the FBI to stop the federal government from collecting, uploading, and permanently storing DNA samples taken from Americans arrested while protesting ICE activity.
The complaint, filed Wednesday in an Illinois district court, targets 'Operation Midway Blitz,' a large-scale federal enforcement action that sent thousands of agents into Chicago. The plaintiffs allege violations of the First and Fourth Amendments and the Administrative Procedure Act, and are seeking an injunction to halt what they call the wrongful construction of a permanent genetic surveillance database built from peaceful protesters.
The core legal question here is not just about these four individuals. It is about whether the federal government can use arrest, not conviction, as the trigger for permanent genetic profiling of political dissenters. The full complaint is worth reading for the specific procedural claims and what the plaintiffs argue the Administrative Procedure Act requires before any such database program can exist.
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