Dave Reichert, the former congressman who became a national celebrity in 2001 when, as a Washington State sheriff, he used DNA analysis to help capture the elusive serial murderer known as the Green River Killer, is joining a firm that is assisting Central American countries in developing DNA databases which could be used to reunite separated families and combat human trafficking, McClatchy Newspapers reports.
Reichert is joining Gordon Thomas Honeywell Governmental Affairs, a subcontractor for the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth, which was awarded a $3.3 million grant by the State Department to assist Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador in expanding their DNA forensics capacity. Reichert will help with passage of laws and data-sharing agreements among the three countries. The U.S. push on genetic forensics comes as U.S.-Mexico border security has become the highest-profile issue at the White House. While there’s been a drop in migrants illegally crossing the U.S. border from Mexico, hundreds die every year making the attempt, some of them victims of human trafficking. More expansive DNA databases, said one expert, would help in identifying children in the border region who are alive but get separated from their parents, or who are being trafficked across the border by criminals.