In a change to the law that flew beneath the public radar, federal authorities have mandated DNA collection in every federal arrest, and the process
is set to begin. The collection of DNA does not require a conviction or a warrant, it's to be streamlined as part of the arrest process. Every
person arrested by a federal agency will presumably be sampled, including every illegal immigrant who gets picked up.
Link
The Justice Department is completing rules to allow the collection of DNA from most people arrested or detained by federal authorities, officials
said, a vast expansion of DNA gathering that will include hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants each year.
The new forensic DNA sampling was authorized by Congress in a little-noticed amendment to a January 2006 renewal of the Violence Against Women Act,
which provides protections and assistance for victims of sexual crimes.
The amendment permits DNA collecting from anyone under criminal arrest by federal authorities, and also from illegal immigrants detained by federal
agents — by far the largest group to be affected by the new law.
Please visit the link provided for the complete story.
So, that's just wonderful. Now federal authorities will have at their disposal an enormous DNA database. If the government was squeaky clean and
infallible, one could presume this a good thing. But unfortunately, the government is neither squeaky clean nor infallible, as they have proven over
and over again. For the same reason you should never give guns to babies, you should never give enormous power to bureaucrats.
It appears to me that this is just another step towards an over-arching federal presence in our lives, and this goes against everything America should
aspire to.
Like most of the problematic federal decisions we take issue with, this one slipped under the radar and got little to no publicity. Even some of the
people voting on it lacked critical information. This is what passes for representation these days? That, in and of itself, is a good enough reason
to re-examine the law in my opinion. Nevermind the logistics, and the prospect of trusting DNA to every federal agent in a position to make
arrests...
[edit on 4-2-2007 by WyrdeOne]
[edit on 4-2-2007 by WyrdeOne]
[edit on 4-2-2007 by WyrdeOne]