Proposed DNA Collection of Immigrant Detainees Scheduled

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. For the story, click here.

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