Feds will collect DNA samples from all arrestees, detainees
WASHINGTON – The U.S. government will soon begin collecting DNA samples from all citizens arrested for any federal crime and many illegal immigrants detained by federal authorities, adding genetic identifiers from more than a million individuals a year to the swiftly growing federal law enforcement DNA database.
The new policy would substantially expand the current practice of routinely collecting DNA samples only from those convicted of federal crimes, although it would build on a growing policy of states to collect DNA from all those arrested. Thirteen states do so now, and turn their data over to the federal government.
The initiative, to be published as a proposed rule in the Federal Register in coming days, reflects a congressional directive that DNA from arrestees should be collected to help catch a range of domestic criminals. But it also requires collection for the first time of DNA samples from foreigners detained by U.S. authorities.
Although fingerprints have long been collected for virtually every arrestee, privacy advocates say the move expands the DNA database beyond its initial aim of storing information on the perpetrators of violent crimes.
They also worry that people could be detained erroneously and swept into the DNA database without cause, and that DNA samples from those who are never convicted of any crime – due to acquittals or a withdrawal of charges – might nonetheless be permanently retained by the FBI.
“Innocent people don’t belong in a so-called criminal database,” said Tania Simoncelli, ACLU science adviser. “We’re crossing a line.” She said that if the samples are kept, they could one day be analyzed for such sensitive information as diseases and ancestry.
Immigration rights advocates also note that most illegal immigrants are detained for administrative violations, not federal crimes. By adding their DNA to the database, “it casts them all as criminals,” said Paromita Shah, associate director of the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild.
The database expansion was authorized by Congress as an amendment to the Violence Against Women Act of 2006, and billed primarily as a way to track down offenders.
“We know for a fact that the proposed regulations will save the lives of many innocent people and will prevent devastating crimes,” said Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., a sponsor of the legislation. “These regulations are long overdue – we should have done this 10 years ago.”
Government officials say FBI rules preclude using DNA samples to determine a person’s genetic traits, diseases or disorders.
“The collection of DNA samples … will provide an additional form of biometric identification from persons who would normally be fingerprinted,” said Department of Justice spokesman Erik Ablin.
The proposed rule applies to all federal agencies with authority to arrest or detain, from the FBI to the Border Patrol to the IRS. Although details of the new policy have not been announced, officials said they expected the bulk of the new samples to be collected through cheek swabs, as they are now.
U.S. officials said that when the measure is fully implemented, roughly 1.2 million people a year could be added to the national database. About 140,000 of those would be people arrested for federal crimes. Many of the rest would be illegal immigrants detained in the United States.
The move comes as 13 states have passed laws to enlarge their databanks to include arrestees. California, which has more than 1 million profiles, will begin next year collecting DNA data from all arrestees. These are uploaded to the national database, which today houses more than 5.8 million samples, making it the largest forensic DNA databank in the world.