The federal government's sweeping power to force people under arrest to give a DNA sample is facing new scrutiny after multiple immigration enforcement protesters reported being swabbed after being taken into custody.
Steven Saari said he was “physically forced without my consent to do a DNA sample” after immigration agents detained him near where Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse, was shot and killed by federal authorities in Minneapolis in January.
Saari, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, said in court records that he went to the scene after hearing that another person had been shot by federal agents in the city, less than three weeks after the killing of Renee Nicole Good. He said he was taken into custody without cause.
“I was standing on the sidewalk, not recording with my phone not protesting, not yelling, not blowing a whistle, just watching,” Saari said in a declaration filed in federal court. After about eight hours in custody, he was released without charges.
Saari is not alone. Several people have said federal agents took or attempted to take DNA samples from them after they were suddenly apprehended.
