How serious has the United States government been about protecting the safety of citizens over recent decades? Not much, as a recent switch in policy from the Trump administration illustrates.

On Thursday, the New York Times noted on its front page that the feds would begin collecting DNA from illegal aliens crossing the border and in detention.

It’s a surprise that authorities weren’t already checking every alien’s DNA, since family border crossers have been tested for some time because of the prevalence of rented kids who ease the entrance for illegals.

Border crossers will now get a cheek swab.

Interestingly, the DNA testing law has been on the books since 2005 (!), but as the Times observes, “Congress passed a law authorizing a broad collection of DNA data in 2005, but at the time an exemption was put in place to protect immigrants.”

What about protecting American citizens?? Don’t we elect political leaders with the idea they will defend the nation’s people from our enemies and the freeloaders of the planet?

To be precise, the original law is the 2005 DNA Fingerprint Act and is explained at length in legalspeak here.

Fox News reporter Griff Jenkins reported on Thursday:

GRIFF JENKINS: Two big border developments. The first is the DOJ is proposing a rule that will require DHS to collect the DNA of all illegal immigrants crossing our border for the FBI’s National Criminal database. It will be done via cheek swabbing upon being taken into custody. The DOJ not commenting before this rule is published, but a senior administration official told me in the last hour that the driving force behind this is that it’s already mandated by law.

They point back to the George W. Bush 2005 DNA Fingerprint Act. Now a waiver kept it from being enforced under President Obama. This of course undoes that.

Obama never was a big supporter of border enforcement.

Here’s the New York Times article:

U.S. Government Plans to Collect DNA From Detained Immigrants, New York Times, October 2, 2019

The Trump administration is moving to collect DNA samples from hundreds of thousands of people booked into federal immigration custody each year and to enter the results into a national criminal database, an immense expansion of the use of technology to enforce the nation’s immigration laws.

Senior officials at the Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday that the Justice Department was developing a federal regulation that would give immigration officers the authority to collect DNA in detention facilities across the country that are currently holding more than 40,000 people.

The move would funnel thousands of new records to the F.B.I., whose extensive DNA database has been limited mainly to genetic markers collected from people who have been arrested, charged or convicted in connection with serious crimes.

There have long been calls to collect immigrant DNA records to help identify criminals who have previously been in immigration custody but may not otherwise be known to the authorities. Congress passed a law authorizing a broad collection of DNA data in 2005, but at the time an exemption was put in place to protect immigrants.

A homeland security official said in a call with reporters on Wednesday that the exemption was outdated, and that it was time to eliminate it. (Continues)