U.S. Customs and Border Protection is launching a pilot program to collect DNA from migrants as young as 14 years old. According to the patrol’s press release, the 90-day program will be limited to two locations: the Detroit Sector and the Eagle Pass Port of Entry in southwestern Texas.
The press release says CPB will collect DNA samples for individuals between the ages of 14 to 79 “who are apprehended and processed within the Detroit Sector. For the location in southwest Texas the DNA collection will include those who present themselves for “consideration of admissibility and are subject to further detention or proceeding.”
The DNA samples will be submitted to the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System. The regulations not only apply to people who are arrested, but extend to non-U.S. citizens who are detained under the authority of the U.S, including those in CBP custody.
Immigration attorney Mary-Lynn Tedesco said those migrants seeking asylum will get caught up in the process.
“The people that are going to be most affected by this rule are the ones who are trying their best to follow the laws the best way that they know how,” she said.
"They are now dragging civil individuals who are seeking protection legally in the United States, presenting themselves legally and yet they are being treated like the criminals that we are supposed to be finding with DNA samples,” she added.
Tedesco said the program could face some legal challenges.
“It’s one thing to have a lower expectation of privacy at a point of entry for purposes of locating drugs and, you know, illegal items that are being brought to the U.S, but whether there is some government interest that’s actually being served by the collection of DNA of children, I think that’s something that is going to be difficult to prove in a court of law," she said.