This archive report was first published on 3 October 2019.
Published on October 3, 2019, the U.S. government announced plans to collect DNA from detained immigrants, citing the DNA Fingerprint Act of 2005.
According to homeland security officials, the new initiative was permitted under the DNA Fingerprint Act of 2005, which previously exempted immigrant detainees due to an agreement between former Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. and former homeland security secretary Janet Napolitano.
A letter to the White House in August from the Office of Special Counsel cited an official whistle-blower complaint alleging that immigration agencies had failed to carry out their full obligations under the law to collect DNA.
“The agency’s noncompliance with the law has allowed subjects subsequently accused of violent crimes, including homicides and sexual assault, to elude detection even when detained multiple times by C.B.P. and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),” said the letter, signed by Henry J. Kerner, the special counsel.
The proposed rule was inspired partly by a pilot program conducted this summer along the southwestern border, in which ICE agents used rapid DNA sampling technology to identify “fraudulent family units”.
Under the new program, DNA samples would be entered into the F.B.I.’s national DNA database, known as CODIS, which is used by state and law enforcement authorities to help identify criminal suspects.
