The Department of Homeland Security is scheduled to begin taking DNA samples from immigrant detainees next month. The Department of Justice issued a final rule Friday authorizing Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement to obtain DNA from immigrants in detention.
The Justice Department cites the DNA Fingerprint Act of 2005. That law requires any federal agency to “collect DNA samples from individuals who are arrested, facing charges, or convicted or from non-United States persons who are detained under the authority of the United States.”
The law had previously never been implemented for Homeland Security because of the cost and sheer number of people arrested or detained each year.
Former Border Patrol Tucson Sector chief Victor Manjarrez is a criminal justice lecturer at the University of Texas-El Paso and associate director of the school’s Center for Law and Human Behavior. He joined The Show to talk about the new policy and whether it will help law enforcement efforts in the U.S.
