DNA testing could reunite families at the US border — and fuel surveillance
Update 4:25PM ET, July 5th 2018: Today, Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar told reporters that officials will take cheek swabs for DNA testing to reunite parents and children separated at the border, according to NBC News. HHS did not reply immediately to an emailed inquiry about who will be conducting the DNA tests.
More than 2,000 children have been separated from their parents at the US border as a result of the White House’s new “zero tolerance” policy, and immigration agencies seem to have no clear plan for reuniting them. In one case, a six-year-old’s ability to remember her aunt’s phone number became her only lifeline to her family. “Most children here aren’t able to give names, much less a phone number,” an...