HOUSTON (AP) – U.S. border authorities claim to have expanded biometric data of migrants aged 13 or under, such as fingerprints, despite concerns about privacy and Government policy that restricts the information that can be compiled from such children. A border patrol official said this week that the Agency has begun a pilot program to take biometric data from children with the permission of the adults who accompany them, although he did not specify in which part of the border was launched. The border patrol also performs a “rapid DNA test pilot”, said Anthony Porvaznik, actor-manager of the Corporation in Yuma, Arizona, in a video interview published by the newspaper Epoch Times.Portavoces of the border patrol and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS for its acronym in English) did not respond to several messages that I left them The Associated Press to make statements about both programs.
The border patrol says that last year stopped around 3,100 adults and children who were passing as members of families in fraudulently so they left released quickly rather than face arrest or a rapid deportation. The DHS also warned about what he calls the “recycling of children”, cases in which according to the authorities minors who were allowed to enter United States were born again of smuggling to Central America so that come with other adults to pretending that they are family, a practice which – they say – is impossible to detect without the taking of fingerprints and other biometric data.
“These are guys that are rented, for not having a word better,” said Porvaznik.
However, border patrol has not released the name of some arrested for “recycling of children” or widespread information about many of these cases has been discovered. Activists who support immigrants say is concerned that agents, in the name of combating this practice, might compile personal information of minors and then use it against them.
FILE – In this file of 5 February 2019 photography, agent of the border patrol, Vincent Pirro, monitors near the border wall that separates the cities of Tijuana, Mexico, and San Diego, California. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, file)
“Of course that there is trafficking in children,” said Karla Vargas, Attorney for the Texas Civil Rights Project (Texas civil rights project). However, he spoke out against to put in place a policy of “capture all” because it could undermine the rights of people who seek asylum to legally. In a roundtable with President Donald Trump in February, a border patrol officer described a case that resulted in eight formal charges in South Carolina, including a Guatemalan who he said had “recycled” children under 13 times in Exchange for a payment of $1,500 per child. The Attorney general of South Carolina told the AP this week that the case was closed to the public and declined to make a statement on the matter. The number of unauthorized border crossings have increased this year, and families that have done so by different legal access points has reached record levels every month. Most come from Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, and many adults and children who cross the border to seek asylum. The border patrol has warned that the quota of its facilities has been lining and has no staff or resources to stop migrants. The border patrol will open soon two installations with tents on the border of Texas for processing and detention, and immigration agencies are making in liberty families before a day or two to open space for detention.
