HOUSTON (AP) — U.S. border authorities say they've started to increase the biometric data they take from children 13 years old and younger, including fingerprints, despite privacy concerns and government policy intended to restrict what can be collected from migrant youths.
1 / 4FILE - In this March 14, 2019, file photo, families who crossed the nearby U.S.-Mexico border near McAllen, Texas are placed in a Border Patrol vehicle. U.S. border authorities say they’ve started to increase the biometric data they take from children 13 years of age and younger, including fingerprints, despite privacy concerns and government policy intended to restrict what can be collected from migrant youth.
Spokesmen for the Border Patrol and the Department of Homeland Security did not return several messages from The Associated Press seeking comment on both programs. "Of course child trafficking exists," said Karla Vargas, an attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project. But she warned against implementing"a catch-all" policy that could reduce the rights of people who are legally seeking asylum.
The Border Patrol has warned that its holding facilities are past capacity and that it doesn't have the staff or resources to detain migrants. It will soon open two tent facilities at the Texas border for processing and detention, and immigration agencies are releasing families within a day or two to clear detention space.
But advocates say the Border Patrol regularly cites fraud when it separates a child from an adult relative who isn't a parent, even if the relative is the child's effective guardian. Porvaznik, the chief agent in Yuma, Arizona, told the Epoch Times that under the pilot program agents can fingerprint children under 14"if we get permission from the adult that they're with.""DHS may claim that they can get around this bar by getting parental permission, but that interpretation is subject to court challenge," Cornell law professor Stephen Yale-Loehr said."To do this legally, DHS needs to go through the rulemaking process to change the regulation.
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