This is ordinarily about United States citizens. U.S. citizens have been worried about themselves. “What about my freedom?” “What about my job?” “What about my privacy?” The use of the word “my” here is highly deliberate: if the COVID-19 crisis has taught us anything about each other, it is that our default way of thinking is extremely self-referential.

In such self-referential thinking, U.S. citizens –including those on the left– have forgotten to think about immigrants’ rights. How has this crisis affected immigrants’ privacy, freedom, and security? Not in a positive way.

While one might grant that important aspects of what makes being an American, have been stripped from U.S. citizens, like working and freedom of movement, tracing seems to be entirely against our constitution. It can potentially damage our privacy, and how immigrants –and in particular, undocumented immigrants- have been treated exceeds this by orders of magnitude.

ICE and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security have begun projects that will entail the collection of DNA from undocumented immigrants. So far, this has entitled small projects, but according to a whistleblower, large projects –meaning huge databases of undocumented immigrant DNA– are in the works.

This isn’t new to the DHS. It is essentially a resurrection of a law implemented in 2005, allowing for such data collection. Due to the potential for abuse from both within the DHS and the broader public, this law has had massive pushback against it for the last 15 years.

“There are people, including at the leadership levels of DHS, CBP, and ICE, who are determined to prevent the DNA Fingerprint Act from ever going into effect,” one senior administration official told POLITICO. “These individuals are willing to continue to ignore the law and put the safety of the American people at risk. The Obama administration is alive and well at DHS.

So all hope is not lost. There are people from within attempting to ensure that this law is not passed. If you have any questions, please contact us at info@gehilaw.com or 718-263-5999.

We are Gehi & Associates. We are NYC/Queens/Brooklyn/Manhattan/Bronx/Staten Island immigration lawyers. We are here to serve our NYC/Queens/Brooklyn/Manhattan/Bronx/Staten Island communities. We do bankruptcy, family/divorce, immigration, and all forms of law. Please come to one of our Queens offices. Email us at info@gehilaw.com to set up your free initial personal consultation.