Immigrants' advocates slam plan to get DNA

[douglas9]

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration wants to implement a controversial plan to collect DNA samples from federal detainees starting Dec. 31, amid an outcry by immigrant advocacy organizations and uncertainties about federal funding.

Last spring, the U.S. Department of Justice published a proposed regulation that set the December deadline to start collecting DNA from an estimated 1.2 million people arrested each year by federal agents, including hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants detained along the nation's borders. The DNA samples would then be added to the FBI's national DNA database, which contains the genetic codes of millions of convicted felons.

Supporters say the increase in federal DNA collection would help law enforcement more quickly and efficiently solve crimes, particularly those involving illegal immigrants. But dozens of organizations have questioned the legality and fairness of collecting and storing people's unique genetic makeup when they are merely under suspicion of a crime or immigration violation.

"It's such an incredible shift to go from collecting DNA from people in the criminal system to imposing it on people who have no connection to a criminal offense — immigrants in the civil immigration system," said Joan Friedland, the immigration policy director with the National Immigration Law Center. "It's a remarkable expansion."

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6078552.html