Whistleblowers Say DHS Went After Them for Exposing Violations in DNA Collection Law

WYNN: “Americans are dead, and these deaths were preventable.”
(...)
HERRIDGE: “So, this internal government memo confirms that you were retaliated against because you spoke out against officials at Homeland Security who you believed were violating the law.”
WYNN: “Yes, one hundred percent.”
(....)
Taylor: “The agency’s goal is to bankrupt you, make you quit, die, kill yourselves, or basically, preferably, all the above.”
(...)
HERRIDGE: “This law is on the books.”
WYNN: “Yes.”
Jones: “Yes.”
HERRIDGE: “Is Homeland Security enforcing the DNA collection law?”
WYNN: “Not fully.”
HERRIDGE: “As a result, are Americans less safe?”
WYNN: “Yes.”
Jones: “Yes.”
HERRIDGE: “No question in your mind?”
Jones: “None at all.”
WYNN: “None.”
Taylor: “No.”
HERRIDGE (voice-over): “Our team sat down with three government whistleblowers with seven decades of law enforcement experience. They work at Customs and Border Protection or CBP, a division of Homeland Security.”
HERRIDGE: “This internal government memo confirms that you were retaliated against because you spoke out against officials at Homeland Security who you believe were violating the law.”
WYNN: “Yes.”
Jones: “Yes.”
WYNN: “One hundred percent.”
HERRIDGE: “‘The agency’s intentional decade-long failure to implement a law designed to protect public safety.’ That’s its conclusion. Customs and Border Protection is in violation of the federal law and it’s done knowingly.”
Jones: “Yes.”
HERRIDGE (voice-over): “This internal Homeland Security directive marked ‘law enforcement sensitive’ lays out the law. The border agency is required to collect DNA samples from non-United States persons in detention for immigration violations. Known as the DNA Fingerprint Act, it passed in 2005 with bipartisan support.”
HERRIDGE: “So there’s no ambiguity, the language is clear.”
Jones: “It lays it out as a roadmap.”
HERRIDGE: “Have you ever seen a directive like this be ignored?”
WYNN: “Never.”
Jones: “No.”
HERRIDGE: “Okay, a lot of people are gonna be confused. Homeland Security’s job is to uphold the law and to keep Americans safe, but what you’re alleging is that Homeland Security is not complying with the law.”
Jones: “That’s correct.”
HERRIDGE (voice-over): “Since 2021, under the Biden-Harris Administration, Homeland Security’s own data reports more than 10 million border encounters.”
Taylor: “The internal mood is it’s a dumpster fire.”
Jones: “It is a questioning of our mission versus what is actually being executed in the field.”

HERRIDGE (voice-over): “Jones showed us what’s supposed to happen in the field when DNA is collected from individuals detained and processed on immigration violations.”
Jones: “So, Catherine, this is the kit that’s provided by the FBI to the Customs and Border Protection officers and agents. Place it inside your cheek.”
HERRIDGE: “Okay.”
Jones: “Rub it inside your cheek three times.”
HERRIDGE: “Three times, yeah.”
Jones: “You’re collecting saliva and skin cells or epithelial cells.”
HERRIDGE: “Okay.”
Jones: “I would then take it back from you, close it, place it inside the white envelope, which then gets sent to the FBI laboratory for processing.”
HERRIDGE: “So, 30 seconds to collect, about $4 a pack.”
Jones: “Correct.”
HERRIDGE: “How long to process by the FBI?”
Jones: “Process is 72 hours.”
HERRIDGE: “So it helps you identify suspects?”
Jones: “Absolutely. It gives an investigative lead to a law enforcement agency.”

HERRIDGE: “Has the system solved cold cases?”
Taylor: “Yes, it’s presumptively solved over 1,000 cases just from DNA collection.”
Jones: “Not only does it cut down on crime, it also cuts down on the time that it takes law enforcement to find this individual.”
HERRIDGE: “You’ve had Republican administrations, you’ve had Democratic administrations. Have either of them implemented the law?”
Taylor: “No. The willful noncompliance, I believe, is inexplicable.”

Grassley: “For many years, the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection have failed to follow the law.”

HERRIDGE (voice-over): “Recent data released by Republican Senator Chuck Grassley suggests nearly 70% of border encounters did not include DNA collection, as required by law, and as many as 950,000 violent criminals were unidentified.”
HERRIDGE: “950,000 violent criminals went unidentified. That’s nearly a million people.”
Jones: “That estimate was from 2010 through 2019. That was 5 million illegal entries at the time.”
HERRIDGE: “What you’re saying to me is that 950,000 violent criminals is an old number, it’s on the low end.”
Jones: “Yes, ma’am.”
WYNN: “The continued, prolonged, willful failure to comply with the DNA fingerprints act has resulted in the harm that Americans are dead, and these deaths were preventable.”
HERRIDGE: “That’s a very significant statement.”
WYNN: “I believe that to be statistically verifiable.”
HERRIDGE (voice-over): “The August 2023 sexual assault and murder of a 37-year-old mother of five in Bel Air, Maryland haunts the whistleblowers.”
HERRIDGE: “Are you alleging that Homeland Security’s failure to comply with the DNA collection law may have been a contributing factor in Rachel Morin’s death?”
WYNN: “It may have been a contributing factor, yes.”
HERRIDGE: “No question in your mind?”
WYNN: “None.”
HERRIDGE: “That’s a very serious charge to make.”
WYNN: “It is.”
HERRIDGE (voice-over): “Now charged with Rachel Morin’s murder is 23-year-old Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez from El Salvador, an alleged gang member. Authorities claim he murdered another woman before fleeing to the U.S. in February 2023.”
HERRIDGE: “Based on our reporting, the suspect didn’t just have one encounter with border agents. He had multiple encounters, so there were multiple opportunities to take his DNA.”
Jones: “We understand we had three bites at the apple with the subject and never took it.”
HERRIDGE: “It’s gonna be hard for the family to hear that there was an opportunity to identify the suspect and stop him if federal law had been followed.”
WYNN: “Absolutely. Had the subjects had DNA taken the first time they were encountered, there would have been an instant possibility that any future criminal activity would have been stopped immediately, and there was definite potential for the individual to be apprehended.”
HERRIDGE (voice-over): “Six months before Rachel Morin’s murder, the suspect was linked to a brutal home invasion in Los Angeles.”
Taylor: “I think if due diligence was exercised, complied with the law, DNA was collected, we would have known who we were looking for on behalf of the little girl and the young lady out in Los Angeles, and hopefully interdicted long before he got to Maryland.”
HERRIDGE: “Did Homeland Security fail Rachel Morin?”
Jones: “In the context of not collecting the DNA that is mandated by law, they did not do it. There’s no other answer.”
HERRIDGE (voice-over): “Even independent government investigators admitted in this May 2023 letter that border agencies do not systematically record data on the reasons for the non-collections.”
HERRIDGE: “What’s the consequence for the American public?”
WYNN: “We know for a fact that not every individual who crosses the border illegally into the United States goes on to commit violent acts. But given the number, even a very small percentage results in a definite increase in crime within the United States.”
HERRIDGE: “Does Homeland Security owe the victims an apology? Does Customs and Border Protection owe the victims an apology?”
WYNN: “At a minimum, many people in this country are owed an explanation.”
Taylor: “Ultimately, the secretary of Department of Homeland Security is responsible. We know that he’s been notified of the non-compliance. They’ve done so with impunity.”
HERRIDGE: “Has anyone at Homeland Security been disciplined?”
WYNN: “No.”
Jones: “Not that we’re aware of, no.”
HERRIDGE: “Demoted.”
Taylor: “No.”
Jones: “No. And to the contrary, promoted.”
HERRIDGE: “Promoted? Anyone fired for failing to comply with the DNA law?”
Taylor: “No.”
Jones: “No.”
Taylor: “The only ones disciplined are sitting right here.”
HERRIDGE (voice-over): “This exclusive internal memo concluded the border agency retaliated against them, including denial of promotion, hostile work environment, reputational harm, among other issues.”
HERRIDGE: “How hard did you have to work within the government bureaucracy to get this memo?”
Jones: “The Office of Special Counsel refused to give it to us. We received it through discovery with our legal counsel.”
HERRIDGE: “So you had — you had to spend your own money to get confirmation that you were being punished by the government?”
WYNN: “That’s correct. For me personally, it’s a mystery as to why the Office of Special Counsel did not see fit to share that document with us.”
Taylor: “I’ve had my law enforcement credentials, firearm taken away from me. I’ve had my law enforcement retirement taken away from me. And I will tell you this: in a law enforcement environment, publicly removing someone’s firearm is the ultimate insult and degradation.”
WYNN: “I was basically iced, left to sit at my desk every day, do nothing but the most menial tasks. My future career options, because I was working in such a limited sphere, all that future potential vanished in a day.”
Jones: “I was demoted three levels. Like Mr. Taylor, my firearm was taken, my credentials were taken, and it was the final blow to a professional career. And what we did was we came forward. Not in 75 years or so of combined service have one of us even had a written or verbal disciplinary action.”
Taylor: “One of the supervisors said, very matter-of-fact, ‘The agency’s goal is to bankrupt you, make you quit, die, kill yourselves, or basically, preferably, all of the above.’”
HERRIDGE: “What you describe sounds like a criminal conspiracy.”
Taylor: “We think a lot of this is criminal. Not so much even when it comes to us, but the absolute intentional dereliction of implementing the DNA law.”
Jones: “We don’t need to bring in more crime. We have enough of our own. The tool we have, the DNA Fingerprint Act, we are willfully not complying and we ask ourselves, ‘How is this happening?’ I think we know how it’s happening.”