The Federal Bureau of Investigation and other government agencies will begin collecting the DNA of all citizens arrested for a federal crime as well as all detained immigrants. This is expected to increase the current database, which includes only federal crime convicts, from 140,000 to 1.2 million.

The Washington Post’s Ellen Nakashima and Spencer Hsu report that the DNA databank was first established in 1994 to include only rapists and murderers. The expansion stems from an amendment to the non-controversial sounding Violence Against Woman Act. Civil liberties groups are pointing out this new provision will collect genetic identities of people wrongly accused of a crime and immigrants detained for administrative reasons.  Read Nakashima and Hsu here.  MB

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