Trump’s plan for Immigrant DNA testing

Immigrants who have managed to enter the US legally is because they prepared their cases and requests correctly, therefore, their residence and entry have been granted by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

However, with Trump’s administration, many immigrants have gone through difficult situations to gain entry and residence in the US. The current administration wants to prevent illegal immigration at all costs and different defense mechanisms have been created to prevent illegal entry into the country.

During Trump’s government, several actions have been taken regarding immigration in general, for example, the visa application is now more extensive and immigrants are deported in greater numbers everyday.

Trump faithfully believes that immigration is a problematic root that must stop. Actually, the government states that many of the country’s crimes are committed by illegal immigrants.

Connection between crimes and immigration

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) is the entity responsible for regulating borders, customs, commerce and immigration to ensure national security. ICE reiterates that a large number of crimes are related to illegal immigration.

During 2018, ICE deported more than 145,000 immigrants who had criminal convictions. However, there are no details of the crimes committed by immigrants deported during that year.

Due to this figure, ICE connects a percentage of crimes in the country with illegal immigration.

What does Trump’s administration think about that hypothesis?

Trump’s administration says that entering the country illegally is a crime itself, therefore, any illegal immigrant could commit any other crime.

This hypothesis has led the government to announce that as of April 2020, DNA samples will be taken from millions of immigrants to send them to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and keep them into a database.

The method to gather the DNA samples is with cheek smear kits to collect saliva. Trump wants these samples to be used in case they match with crime scenes in the country.

The DNA sample collection will begin with illegal immigrants who are detained for trying to cross the border without government permission.

Immigrants who oppose the DNA test can be charged with a federal misdemeanor.

The counter argument to the DNA collection project

Advocates for immigrant rights have raised their voices against the immigrant DNA collection project. They say that immigrants in a state of vulnerability are being abused. Many of them are seeking asylum in the US and hope to find international help.

Naureen Shah, defender of the American Civil Liberties Union said on Friday: “Congress should immediately prevent any taxpayer dollars from being used to fund this xenophobic program. (…) Collecting the genetic blueprints of people in immigration detention doesn’t make us safer — it makes it easier for the government to attack immigrant communities, and brings us one step closer to the government knocking on all of our doors demanding our DNA under the same flawed justification that we may one day commit a crime.”

What are the best steps to follow?

The best solution you can take is to do things correctly when you want to migrate from your country. You must go through a legal consular process to avoid any negative exposure to the government and its commitment to prevent illegal immigration.

If you have any questions about an immigration issue or relating to a case you may have currently in Progress, then please don’t hesitate to contact us for a FREE Consultation with one of our expert immigration attorneys. Alternatively, simply call Motion Law today at: (202) 918-1799