Whistleblowers allege border agency ignoring federal DNA law, endangering Americans: report

By Samantha Kamman, Christian Post Reporter Wednesday, August 14, 2024

An illegal migrant man crosses through the banks of the Rio Grande to be processed by the Border Patrol El Paso Sector, Texas, after crossing from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico on May 10, 2023. | HERIKA MARTINEZ/AFP via Getty Images

Three Department of Homeland Security whistleblowers allege that U.S. Customs and Border Protection targeted them for revealing that it failed to implement a law they claim could have prevented the murder of Americans by illegal immigrants.

Independent investigative journalist Catherine Herridge released an interview on Sunday with whistleblowers Michael Taylor, Fred Wynn and Mark Jones, who have 31, 18 and 20 years of law enforcement experience, respectively.

During the interview with Herridge, who served as a senior investigative correspondent for CBS News from 2019 to 2024, the three whistleblowers alleged that CBP is knowingly violating a 2005 law called the DNA Fingerprint Act, which was passed during the George H.W. Bush’s administration. The law requires the border agency to collect DNA samples from non-U.S. citizens in detention for immigration violations. The DNA collected from the migrant is then sent to the FBI.

“It gives an investigative lead to a law enforcement agency,” Jones told Herridge about the benefits of the law.

“Not only does it cut down on crime, it also cuts down on the time that it takes law enforcement to find this individual,” he added.

On the day of the interview, Herridge also shared a December 2021 memo from the U.S. Office of Special Counsel outlining Taylor, Wynn and Jones’ allegations that CBP and DHS retaliated against them for speaking out.

The memo stated that agency officials knew the complainants had raised concerns about the alleged lack of compliance with the 2005 law. In addition, the memo noted that from February 2018 onward, officials responded by subjecting the complainants to a “significant change in duties, responsibilities, and working conditions.”

In response to a question from Herridge about whether the last few presidential administrations have implemented the 2005 law, Taylor asserted that they have not, decrying this as “inexplicable.” All three whistleblowers declared during the interview that they had “never” before seen a directive like this one be ignored.

At one point during the interview, Herridge asked the three whistleblowers if DHS’ failure to comply with the 2005 law played a part in the death of Rachel Morin, a mother of five who was killed by an illegal immigrant last August. The man arrested for her murder, Victor Antonio Martinez Hernandez, fled his home country of El Salvador, where he is a suspect in a separate murder investigation.

Hernandez had several encounters with border agents prior to the killing of Morin, with Herridge asserting that there were “multiple opportunities to take his DNA.” Wynn agreed that failing to collect Hernandez’s DNA contributed to Morin’s death.

“We understand there were three bites at the apple with this subject and never took it,” Jones added.

The Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection did not respond to The Christian Post’s request for comment.

According to the latest CBP data updated on July 15, the agency has recorded approximately 10 million illegal immigrant encounters nationwide. Additional data show that from fiscal year 2021 through the middle of July 2024, Border Patrol recorded over 52,000 arrests of illegal immigrants with criminal backgrounds.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, has also raised concerns about the DHS’ reported failures to collect DNA at the southern border. In February 2024, Grassley followed up on a letter he wrote in November 2023 to the DHS regarding accusations from whistleblowers that the agency is not complying with the DNA Fingerprint Act.

According to the letter, the FBI only received 37% of DNA samples for the fiscal year of 2023 from the over 760,000 nationwide encounters at the border for that year. The Republican lawmaker said the CBP's and DHS' continued failure to collect illegal immigrants’ DNA is “deeply concerning.”

“This failure weakens our justice system and empowers criminals to illegally cross our border, jeopardizing American lives,” he wrote.

Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: samantha.kamman@christianpost.com. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman