Jim Desmond, San Diego County supervisor, called on the Biden administration to reinstall mandatory DNA testing at the southern border which was in place during Trump's presidency. Reporter Ali Bradley reported Desmond addressed a letter to the president Sept. 5, urging the current administration to protect the safety of the children at the border.
"In a letter to @POTUS—San Diego County Supervisor @jim_desmond calls for reinstatement of DNA testing for unaccompanied minors at the southern border—demanding it be mandatory," Bradley said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “The stark humanitarian crisis we face demands immediate and effective solutions. Cartels and coyotes exploit innocent children as pawns in their criminal enterprises, subjecting them to unthinkable horrors such as sexual abuse and trafficking. It is unconscionable that we would, in any way, curtail measures to protect these vulnerable individuals.”
The Trump administration allowed Immigration and Customs Enforcement to conduct DNA tests on immigrants traveling in supposed “familial units” in an attempt to fight against human trafficking, specifically child trafficking, according to the Heritage Foundation. These tests, the same test Biden reportedly halted, discovered more than 6,000 fraudulent families during Trump’s time in office.
According to the Daily Caller, an earlier study from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security revealed cases of fraudulent families among migrants, including one pilot program where 16 out of 84 families were identified as not genuinely related. Another program uncovered 79 fraudulent families among a total of 522.
During the month of August alone, there was a notable uptick in illegal migrant encounters at the southern border, with a record-breaking number of around 91,000 family members crossing, the Daily Caller reported.
“The recent termination of DNA family testing by the Biden administration is a distressing decision that puts innocent lives at risk and undermines our commitment to combating the heinous crimes of human trafficking and child exploitation,” Desmond said in an X post.
Desmond also called for punishments to be put in place for those who refuse to cooperate with the testing, according to his post on X.
"Data shows that over the last two years, the Federal Government couldn’t reach more than 85,000 minors — and lost immediate contact with a third of migrant children. This is the exact reason we need DNA testing at the border," Desmond said in a Sept. 6 X post.
