Border agencies can use DNA testing to help identify and track migrants when they enter the United States, according to a rule issued Monday by the Department of Justice.
The technology is being adopted because migrants can change their claimed names and documents once they get into the United States, so making it difficult for officials to find migrants who hide once they lose their claims for asylum. The decision covers illegal migrants as well as migrants who legally ask for asylum so they can enter to get jobs.
The move is controversial because Americans do not like the use of DNA testing to mark each person’s identity. But the policy is being adopted because Republicans and Democrats in Congress tolerate large volumes of illegal migration. For example, more than 3 million Central Americans have moved though border loopholes into the United States since 2011, aided by anti-border progressive and cheap-labor businesses.
So far, there is no move to use the same DNA technology on Americans, partly because Americans’ identity is recorded at birth and is tracked by the use of legal documents, such as drivers’ licenses, credit cards, and tax forms.
Pro-migration groups are criticizing the DNA policy they helped to create. For example, the policy is opposed by Vera Eidelmen, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union which has opened up loopholes and border law and is now fighting the administrations’ many efforts to curb illegal migration:
Forced DNA collection raises serious privacy and civil liberties concerns and lacks justification, especially when DHS is already using less intrusive identification methods like fingerprinting. Our DNA not only reveals deeply personal information about us, but also information about our relatives. This means the administration’s racist immigration policies will also implicate the rights of family members in other countries and family members here, including American citizens. This kind of mass collection alters the purpose of DNA collection from one of criminal investigation to population surveillance, which is contrary to our basic notions of freedom and autonomy.
Breitbart News has reported on the many murders committed by migrants, many of whom have been aided by the ACLU’s pro-migration policies.
The technology is already being used to verify claims by groups of migrants that they are eligible for the Flores loophole, which was created by an ACLU lawsuit.
The Department of Justice posted the news Monday morning, saying:
The proposed rule change would help to save lives and bring criminals to justice by restoring the authority of the Attorney General to authorize and direct the collection of DNA from non-United States persons detained at the border and the interior by DHS, with the ultimate goal of reducing victimization of innocent citizens,” said Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen.
Today’s proposed rule change is a lawful exercise of the Attorney General’s authority, provided by Congress, to collect DNA samples from non-United States persons who are properly detained under the authority of the United States.”
As a result of this rule change, the Department of Justice will ensure that all federal agencies—including DHS—are in full compliance with the bipartisan DNA Fingerprint Act, which was a component of a larger legislative package that passed the House of Representatives by an overwhelming vote of 415 to four and the Senate by Unanimous Consent. The DNA Fingerprint Act provided the Attorney General with the exclusive authority to draft regulations to authorize and direct any federal agency to “collect DNA samples from individuals who are arrested, facing charges, or convicted or from non-United States persons who are detained under the authority of the United States.” 24 U.S.C. § 40702(a)(1)(A).
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