(Headline USA) Senate Republicans reintroduced legislation this week that would allow immigration officials to immediately deport immigrants who refuse to undergo DNA testing at the border, arguing that such a policy is necessary to combat the influx of child trafficking being driven by the drug cartels.
The bill, called the End Child Trafficking Act Now Act, would require all illegal immigrants seeking entry into the U.S. to genetically confirm their relationship with any children accompanying them or be deported. The bill would also impose a maximum 10-year prison sentence for any migrant who lies about their familial ties to a minor.
“Estimates are that 30% of the children that present with adults at the southern border are being trafficked. They are not related to the adult that they’re with,” Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., the author of the bill, told the Washington Examiner. “We also know that the cartels use what is called ‘child recycling.’ They will take a child, put them with cartel members [they’re] trying to move into the country. And after the process work is completed, then the child is sent back to Mexico and the cartel members are free to move about the country.”
Familial DNA testing at the border has long been a Department of Homeland Security policy, but the Biden administration ended it in May, according to a leaked memo.
Blackburn urged the Biden administration to reimplement the policy of its own accord, but said her legislation, if passed, would force it to.
“That may be the difference in saving that child’s life, in keeping that child out of a gang or a sex ring or keeping them from being a drug mule,” Blackburn said. “We know that [the Department of Health and Human Services] has 85,000 unaccompanied minors that they now cannot find. We need to look at this as a humanitarian crisis.”
At least 10 Republican senators have signed onto the bill, including Sens. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., Thom Tillis, R-N.C., Mike Lee, R-Utah, Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, Steve Daines, R-Mont., Bill Cassidy, R-La., and John Hoeven, R-N.D.
