The United States is reportedly planning to take DNA samples from asylum seekers and other migrants detained by immigration officials, adding the information to the FBI database used for hunting criminals.
The Justice Department will publish a regulation that would mandate DNA collection from migrants who cross between official entry points or are being held temporarily.
However, the rule doesn’t apply to legal permanent residents or those entering the US legally. Children under the age of 14 are also excluded.
The policy would give the US government access to biometric data on hundreds of thousands of migrants and this raises serious privacy concerns, especially when an individual not suspected of any crime is caught illegally crossing the border.
Civil rights groups are not pleased with the policy and have expressed concerns about misuse of the data and this could result in legal action.
The Trump administration says that with the new rule, hopefully, crimes committed by immigrants would be solved and it would discourage migrants from attempting to enter the United States.
