Immigrant Activists Say No to DNA Tests

 

When kidnappers¹ attacked a woman on a Guatemala City street and seized her baby daughter, DNA² testing came to the rescue.

The tests helped reunite the girl with her mother after the baby was left at a religious center with no identification.

DNA testing has also helped connect legally adopted children with their biological parents and immigrants in the United States with their families.

Now the technology is being used to bring together families separated at the U.S. border with Mexico.

However, activists³ working for migrants say that using genetic⁴ tests in this way creates technical, legal and even moral problems.

Leading migrant rights groups have been rejecting offers by companies to donate testing supplies for free.

Missing children

Genetic tests have helped an organization called DNA-Prokids reconnect more than 1,000 children with their families in Mexico, Nepal and several other countries. They also reconnected the mother with her kidnapped daughter in Guatemala City.

Jose Lorente, a professor at the University of Granada in Spain, started the organization. Lorente said he was moved by the children he saw on the streets in cities around the world. Many were victims of trafficking and had parents who were looking for them.

Lorente said he hopes to set up a worldwide network of DNA testing laboratories to help children everywhere.

"This is a way to send a message to people trafficking children," he said. "The message is, from now on, it is not going to be so easy to steal and traffic a child because he or she will be immediately identified."

Border tests

Lorente said DNA tests could help make sure that children coming across the U.S.-Mexico border are not being trafficked.

U.S. officials already use such tests to confirm that immigrants seeking to join family members in the United States are related.

Genetic testing led the U.S. State Department to suspend a program for refugees in 2008. At the time, officials identified suspected cases of cheating in the government’s family reunification program. They tested about 3,000 people, mainly from Somalia, Ethiopia and Liberia. They confirmed a parental⁵ connection in less than 20 percent of the cases.

The program restarted in 2012. It now requires a DNA test to prove that an adult and child are related.

New technology could permit those tests to be done at the border in as little as 90 minutes. Currently, law enforcement agencies are examining DNA tests that can connect a person in police detention⁶ to a detailed⁷ computer listing of known criminals. The same technology could be used to test migrants.

Thermo Fisher Scientific has offered to donate $1 million worth of its testing technology to help reunite families separated at the border.

Two ancestry⁸ companies, 23andMe and MyHeritage, also offered to donate their genetic tests to the effort. Both companies normally sell their products to persons interested in family history.

Concerns over privacy

Yet migrant rights organizations are concerned about privacy. Fernanda Durand is with the migrant rights group CASA. She is worried that the government could use migrants' genetic information later without their approval.

Normal DNA testing can only dependably identify parent-child and sibling⁹ relationships. In refugee situations, activists say, it is not unusual for someone other than a child's biological parent to care for them, especially when a parent has been killed or detained.

Ancestry companies' tests can find much more genetic information than normal DNA tests, and can identify wider relationships. But they can also provide more sensitive information, including health data. These tests also are not certified¹⁰ for this purpose by the organization that oversees¹¹ DNA testing labs.

23andMe and MyHeritage say they are concerned about privacy and will offer the tests only to legal aid groups working with migrant families.

However, those groups are still not 100 percent sure of the services.

Jennifer Falcon¹² is with the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services. She noted¹³ that separating parents from their children is bad enough. She added that you cannot solve one civil rights abuse by creating another possible violation¹⁴ of their privacy.

I’m Phil Dierking.

Words in This Story

adopt - v. to take a child of other parents legally as your own child

certify¹⁵ - v. to say officially that something is true, correct, or genuine

DNA - n. a substance that carries genetic information in the cells of plants and animals — often used before another noun?

migrant - n. a person who goes from one place to another especially to find work?

network - n. a system of lines, wires, etc., that are connected to each other?

sibling - n.a brother or sister

1 kidnappers   

n.拐子，绑匪( kidnapper的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They were freed yesterday by their kidnappers unharmed. 他们昨天被绑架者释放了，没有受到伤害。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The kidnappers had threatened to behead all four unless their jailed comrades were released. 帮匪们曾经威胁说如果印度方面不释放他们的同伙，他们就要将这四名人质全部斩首。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

3 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

5 parental   

adj.父母的；父的；母的

参考例句：

• He encourages parental involvement in the running of school.他鼓励学生家长参与学校的管理。
• Children always revolt against parental disciplines.孩子们总是反抗父母的管束。

6 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

7 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

8 ancestry   

n.祖先，家世

参考例句：

• Their ancestry settled the land in 1856.他们的祖辈1856年在这块土地上定居下来。
• He is an American of French ancestry.他是法国血统的美国人。

9 sibling   

n.同胞手足(指兄、弟、姐或妹)

参考例句：

• Many of us hate living in the shadows of a more successful sibling.我们很多人都讨厌活在更为成功的手足的阴影下。
• Sibling ravalry has been common in this family.这个家里，兄弟姊妹之间的矛盾很平常。

10 certified   

a.经证明合格的；具有证明文件的

参考例句：

• Doctors certified him as insane. 医生证明他精神失常。
• The planes were certified airworthy. 飞机被证明适于航行。

11 oversees   

v.监督，监视( oversee的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She oversees both the research and the manufacturing departments. 她既监督研究部门又监督生产部门。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Department of Education oversees the federal programs dealing with education. 教育部监管处理教育的联邦程序。 来自互联网

12 falcon   

n.隼，猎鹰

参考例句：

• The falcon was twice his size with pouted feathers.鹰张开羽毛比两只鹰还大。
• The boys went hunting with their falcon.男孩子们带着猎鹰出去打猎了。

13 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

14 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。

15 certify   

vt.证明，证实；发证书(或执照)给

参考例句：

• I can certify to his good character.我可以证明他品德好。
• This swimming certificate is to certify that I can swim one hundred meters.这张游泳证是用以证明我可以游100米远。