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The U.S. government on Monday launched a pilot program to collect DNA from people in immigration custody and submit it to the FBI, with plans to expand nationwide. The information would go into a massive criminal database run by the FBI, where it would be held indefinitely. A memo outlining the program published Monday by the Department of Homeland Security said U.S. citizens and permanent residents holding a “green card” who are detained could be subject to DNA testing, as well as asylum seekers and people entering the country without authorization. (Merchant, 1/6)

Border Patrol officers in the Detroit sector of the border with Canada and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) personnel at the Eagle Pass, Texas port of entry along the U.S.-Mexico frontier have been instructed to collect DNA from certain migrants. The samples are from cheek swabs. The biometric information would be used to create profiles in a massive national criminal database run by the FBI. The move is the first phase of a five-part, three year Department of Homeland Security initiative to obtain DNA profiles from virtually all migrants in U.S. custody, whether or not they've committed crimes. (Montoya-Galvez, 1/7)

The Department of Homeland Security has been operating under exceptions put in place a decade ago. In 2010, then-Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano requested an exemption for DNA collection from the DNA Fingerprint Act of 2005, including for migrants in custody who weren't facing criminal charges or those pending deportation proceedings, citing a lack of agency resources at the time to gather DNA. The 90-day pilot will be implemented by US Border Patrol in the Detroit region, as well as at the Eagle Pass port of entry in southwest Texas, the agency said. (Sands, 1/6)