Senate Democrats call on White House to abandon plan to collect DNA from migrants

A group of Senate Democrats is calling on the Trump administration to abandon reported plans to collect DNA from migrants at the border.

Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) led a group of 11 senators in a letter Wednesday calling the plan “unnecessary, unjustified and invasive.”

The letter warns that putting such data in the hands of the federal government could allow the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to use it for enforcement actions against family members as well.

{mosads}“The real rationale for this new policy appears to be the Trump administration’s unending desire to vilify and stigmatize immigrants, and to erect any and all possible obstacles to immigration to the United States,” the letter states.

“And the consequence of this new policy will be to place in the hands of the federal government voluminous biometric data taken without consent from hundreds and thousands of migrants—including children as young as 14 years of age—who have done nothing other than seek a better life in our country,” it adds.

Multiple reports have emerged this month saying that the Trump administration has moved toward collecting DNA samples from asylum-seekers amid efforts to prosecute migrants for criminal offenses.

The letter asks for the statutory and regulatory justification for such a move as well as details on any cost-benefit analysis the Department of Justice (DOJ) or DHS have conducted, as well as how the departments square the process with the constitutional right against unreasonable search and seizure that courts have held applies to immigrants.

“According to press reports, the new policy will apply to asylum-seekers presenting themselves at legal ports of entry, and therefore may have committed no crimes under immigration laws. Are these press reports accurate, and, if so, what is the justification for collecting DNA samples from asylum-seekers?” the letter asks.

Six Democrats running for president in 2020 signed onto the letter Wednesday: Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), and Michael Bennet (D-Colo.).

The letter was also signed by Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii).

The Hill has reached out to DOJ and DHS for comment.

–Updated at 3:19 p.m.