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<div class="header reader-header reader-show-element"> <font
size="-2"><a class="domain reader-domain"
href="https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/US-Govt-To-Allow-Systematic-DNA-Samples-on-Arrested-Migrants-20191021-0009.html">https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/US-Govt-To-Allow-Systematic-DNA-Samples-on-Arrested-Migrants-20191021-0009.html</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">US Gov't To Allow Systematic DNA
Samples on Arrested Migrants</h1>
Published 21 October 2019</div>
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<p>The United States government released a plan Monday
proposing to take systematic DNA samples from migrants
detained by U.S. authorities, raising important privacy
concerns especially for asylum-seekers and minor
offenders whose genetic information would go into an FBI
database.</p>
<p>The rule proposes collecting DNA samples from any
migrant "detained under the authority of the United
States," which could include first-time border crossers
whose offense is a misdemeanor.</p>
<p>In addition, U.S. President Donald Trump has long
linked his racist anti-migration policies to
crime-fighting, even though multiple studies show
migrants commit less crime than native-born people.
Trump's migration aide Stephen Miller has claimed
that DNA collection could help detect fraud and solve
cold criminal cases.</p>
<p>Groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union have
raised privacy and civil liberties concerns, including
that the samples can reveal information about relatives
of the detained. The ACLU also said the rule changes the
purpose of DNA collection from criminal investigation to
surveillance of the population.</p>
<p>"This proposed change in policy is extraordinary in its
breadth and transparent with its xenophobic goals," the
ACLU's senior advocacy and policy counsel Naureen
Shah said in a statement.</p>
<p>"It seeks to miscast these individuals, many of whom
are seeking a better life or safety, as threats to the
country's security. And it turns immigration detention,
which is supposed to be civil and not punitive, into a
proxy to strip these individuals of their privacy
rights," Shah added.</p>
<p>The rule would create exceptions for foreigners being
processed for legal entry to the U.S., which could
include asylum-seekers who apply at a legal port of
entry but might not include those who cross the border
without documented and apply for asylum upon being
detained.</p>
<p>So far, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
was running the pilot program "Operation Double Helix,"
officially supposed to determine family ties between
children and parents in custody. However, the new
program would obtain a "fuller scope" DNA profile of
migrants, according to the Department of Homeland
Security. </p>
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