In nearly four years, the DNA database — which is shared with law enforcement agencies nationwide — added more than 1.5 million noncitizen profiles, according to the Georgetown Law Center on Privacy & Technology. That compares with about 30,000 total samples obtained since 2005, when Congress authorized DNA collection by federal immigration authorities, the study found. DNA samples are routinely taken by immigration agents “without any of the procedural rules that police are supposed to follow before they can take a person’s DNA,” the center said in the report. After agents collect DNA, the samples are sent to the FBI for testing and inclusion in a federal database called the Combined DNA Index System. In collecting the DNA, immigration agents don’t need probable cause or judicial warrants that apply in the criminal justice context, the report states, though police use the data for criminal investigations.

Source: Los Angeles Times May 21, 2024 17:55 UTC