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Immigration Agents Taking DNA Samples from Separated Children

HeadlineJul 05, 2018

The Department of Homeland Security has been taking DNA samples of immigrant children as it separates them from their parents as part of the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” border policy. CNN reports immigration officials have been swabbing DNA from the cheeks of children as young as 2 months old, without consent, ostensibly in a bid to later reunite children with their parents. Rights groups have condemned the move, saying it could allow the federal government to track young immigrants for the rest of their lives. Jennifer Falcon of the Texas immigrant rights group RAICES said, “This is a further demonstration of administration’s incompetence and admission of guilt, this further drives home the point we’ve been saying. They never registered parents and children properly.”

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