Nothing causes liberal tears to flow like separating children from their parents at the Southern border, even when that separation is legally required. But many have wondered whether, once it became widely known that bringing children was a ticket into the U.S., some illegal immigrants have scammed the system by bringing along children who are not theirs.
ICE carried out a pilot project in McAllen and El Paso, Texas, in which alleged parents and children were given rapid DNA tests to determine whether they were actually related. The Washington Examiner reports the results:
In a pilot program, approximately 30% of rapid DNA tests of immigrant adults who were suspected of arriving at the southern border with children who weren’t theirs revealed the adults were not related to the children….
“There’s been some concern about, ‘Are they stepfathers or adopted fathers?'” the official said. “Those were not the case. In these cases, they are misrepresented as family members.”
In some incidents where Immigration and Customs Enforcement told the adults they would have to take a cheek swab to verify a relationship with a minor, several admitted the child was not related and did not take the DNA test, which was designed by a U.S. company.
This 30% number is obviously not definitive. For one thing, the test was administered only when there was some reason to suspect that the “parent” and “child” were not actually related. We aren’t told what proportion of the total who arrived with children were in that category. But at a minimum, the test confirms that, as many have thought, the practice of bringing children to the border is often fraudulent.
Another area where I would like to see DNA testing applied is chain migration. Millions of immigrants have been brought to this country on the ground that they are related to immigrants who are already here. To my knowledge, no serious effort is made to ensure that those who benefit from chain migration are actual blood relatives. I am only speculating, but I would be surprised if there is not considerable fraud in that program as well.
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