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Senate Public Safety Committee approves substitute to collect DNA from charged people with ICE detainers
Summary
The Senate Public Safety Committee passed a substitute to SB 116 (LC 630067S) to require DNA collection from people charged with misdemeanors or felonies who have an ICE detainer; the committee heard opposing testimony about privacy, cost and constitutional protections and defeated an amendment to narrow the detainer language.
The Senate Public Safety Committee voted 5–3 to pass a substitute (LC 630067S) to Senate Bill 116, a measure that would require DNA samples from people who have been charged with a misdemeanor or felony and who are subject to an ICE detainer, the committee chair announced.
Senator Tim Bearden, the bill’s author, told the committee the substitute largely tracks the measure the panel considered last year and replaces references to "convicted" with "charged," allowing a DNA sample to be taken and entered into law-enforcement databases when someone with a detainer is brought into custody. "If illegal alien in this country, you're arrested for a misdemeanor or felony, we would take the DNA sample to put in the database," Bearden said, arguing the samples help investigators check for outstanding crimes and identify repeat offenders.
Opponents and several senators raised legal and policy objections. Maisie Lynn Guertin of the Georgia Association of…
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