Homeland security officials said the new initiative was permitted under the DNA Fingerprint Act of 2005. It suggested that immigration authorities such as Customs and Border Protection already were carrying out limited DNA collections. And unlike the testing under the pilot program, the results would be shared with other law enforcement agencies. After the DNA samples are taken, under the forthcoming regulation, they would be entered into the F.B.I.’s highly regulated national DNA database. Known as CODIS, the Combined DNA Index System is used by state and law enforcement authorities to help identify criminal suspects.

Source: New York Times October 02, 2019 21:11 UTC