VANCOUVER -Canadians suspected of offences at the U.S. border will be ordered to provide DNA samples starting later this year. The new U.S. policy will require that DNA swab samples be taken from anyone arrested in the United States and from foreigners detained at the border who are not legal U.S. residents. Detained Canadians would only be subject to DNA collection "if there were sufficient grounds to justify an arrest or detention," said U.S. Department of Justice spokesman Erik Ablin, adding that an illegal presence in the United States would be one such ground. "If any person is arrested, or a non-United States person is detained, the circumstances in which DNA would be collected would, as a general rule, be congruent with those in which the person would be fingerprinted under current practice." DNA profiles, collected to fight and solve crime, go to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and are entered in the national law-enforcement DNA database, Mr. Ablin said.Canwest News Service
