US Eyes to Collect DNA Data from Immigrants: Why Scientists are so Concerned?

Scientists spark concerns about the US government's plan to routinely collect DNA data from immigrants in federal custody.

The plan, which was declared by the Department of Homeland Security on Oct. 2, was to see DNA profiles of immigrant detainees stored in the FBI's database. It was initially made to help law organizations solve crimes.

The department is still creating guidelines that will oversee the extended testing. More than 40,000 individuals are presently being held in detention centers nationwide.

Privacy advocates were concerned whether the mass DNA testing will harm the foreigners' protection rights or the test outcomes are dependable. Well, The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital protection group, said the law is "undesirable." 

How will they do it?

Once the law is implemented, authorities will gather DNA tests from individuals in both US Customs and Border Protection and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement care and send the samples to an FBI laboratory for investigation afterwards. 

The DNA data will be processed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) database, which will be utilized to recognize crooks nationwide, according to the website of the Department of Homeland Security. 

However, it is uncertain whether unaccompanied transient children or different immigrant categories will be excluded, or who else will have the DNA data.

Sara Katsanis, a bioethicist at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois, who opposes the government's plan, said the move would mean gathering something from a whole apartment complex where there's been a homicide or where there may be crimes.

"If we treat everyone like they're a criminal, then that, to me, goes against the principles in the United States," said Katsanis.

It isn't precisely clear on what information the government will gather, or how. However, specialists do not dismiss the idea that it will incorporate the 20 markers that make up the ordinary DNA profile in the FBI database. These markers are called short tandem repeats (STR), which would rehash DNA parts that vary from individual to individual. 

The STRs utilized for CODIS are from noncoding areas of the genome, and hypothetically don't pass on any health data aside from biological sex.

False positives

Scientists discovered in a 2017 study which looked at two different sets of genetic data from 900 genomes that they could match STR profiles with the 13 marks and used to identify genomes from health-search databases or other sources.

The discoveries proposed that CODIS profiles could be utilized to distinguish anonymized genomes from health-research databases or different sources. That equivalent year, CODIS added seven extra markers, implying that such connections could be significantly simpler to make.

Rori Rohlfs, a statistical geneticist at San Francisco State University-California, said access to access to DNA data could put migrants in danger of security infringement and genetic discrimination.

She added CODIS data are saved securely and utilized only for identification—yet cybersecurity is never ensured. In the event that the information were to be availed, they might be used to deny employment or life insurance.

The dangers presented by DNA collection would increase if the administration chose to utilize data samples to run detailed genetic tests in the future.

Rohlfs said it is not unreasonable to worry about these scope creep and the reasons for changing databases. Katsanis likewise added the endeavors would simply result to greater inequality in law enforcement by exposing immigrants to further, unjustifiable investigation.