Groups Seek US Help In Identifying Migrant Remains

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — Dozens of advocacy groups from the U.S. and Latin America are asking the FBI to share information from a DNA database to help identify remains among thousands of migrants who have perished along the U.S.-Mexico border.

But U.S. officials said Friday they are hamstringed by a federal law limiting access to the database.

They pledged to continue talks on sharing forensic information and efforts to identify the missing during a field hearing Friday of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in Boulder, Colorado.

The commission is part of the Organization of American States.

Advocacy groups say they have more than 4,000 DNA samples from relatives of people reported missing while migrating from Mexico into the United States.

They want to compare those samples with the FBI-run database.