Senate Public Safety Committee approves substitute to collect DNA from charged people with ICE detainers

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 Criminal Defense Lawyers warned the committee that compelled DNA collection for people merely charged—potentially for routine misdemeanors—implicates Georgia's stronger constitutional privacy protections and bodily integrity. "To get my DNA, you actually have to invade my body," Guertin told the committee, saying Georgia’s privacy standard may afford greater protections than federal precedent.

Civil-rights and privacy concerns were echoed by Kyle Gomez Lineweber of Kamikaze Georgia, who said SB 116 "would require DNA collection from individuals who have been merely charged... if they are subject to an immigration detainer even when the underlying charge is a misdemeanor," and warned the bill could expand biometric surveillance, unevenly affect people based on immigration status and erode trust in law enforcement if not narrowly tailored with expungement and oversight safeguards.

Law enforcement witnesses including Terry Norris, executive director of the Sheriff's Association, expressed conditional support for tools that help control crime but flagged operational strain and cost questions. Norris said sheriffs "are gonna support anything that controls crime" but noted concerns over which agency collects samples, potential duplication with federal sampling and county costs.

Committee members pressed procedural and constitutional questions during debate. Senator Kim Jackson asked whether the statute’s language—"charged" versus "arrested" and "subject to" a detainer—would force officers to take people into custody for minor violations in order to collect DNA. Bearden and other supporters responded that samples would be taken when individuals are brought into custody and that detainers influence custody decisions. The chair estimated the per-swab cost at about a dollar during questioning, but witnesses said a fuller cost analysis would come from GBI/forensics and local jails.

Jackson offered an amendment to change the wording from "is subject to an immigration detainer notice" to "has an ICE detainer notice," aiming to clarify whether the statute applies only to people with an active detainer rather than those deemed eligible; the amendment was defeated on a 3–4 vote. The committee then voted to pass the substitute, 5–3. The chair said the measure will advance to the Senate Rules Committee.

The committee's record shows the primary points of contention were (1) whether compelled DNA collection from people merely charged—particularly for minor misdemeanors—meets Georgia's privacy standards; (2) which agencies will carry the operational and financial burden; and (3) whether the statutory language is sufficiently precise about who qualifies for collection and when federal processes (ICE/FBI) duplicate the effort.

The bill now proceeds to the Senate Rules Committee. No implementation timetable or appropriations language was specified in the hearing record.