The fight to reunite immigrant families took a genetic twist this week as tensions increased over detained children. The same consumer DNA testing kits that trace ancestry and offer genetic risk assessments were proposed as a way to reunite families separated at the border. But the idea created its own minor furor — for one, the fact that the government would even need DNA tests to match a detained child to a parent. Second, the fear over privacy and security risks. “We shouldn’t be in this position at all,” said Arthur Caplan, head of medical ethics at the New York University School of Medicine. “The kids should not have to do this genetic backfill.”

Occupants at Casa Padre, an immigrant shelter for unaccompanied minors, in Brownsville, Texas, U.S., are seen in this photo provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, June 14, 2018. ACF | HHS | Reuters

After more than 2,700 children were taken from their parents by officials at the border under President Donald Trump’s “zero tolerance policy,” it became clear that there was no solid system in place to bring families back together. When immigrant children are separated from families, they are placed in government facilities or foster care while officials try to identify the nearest relative in the United States. But there are suspicions about how carefully these “relatives” are filtered. With facilities overflowing, there are allegations that many children may had been lost in the system or handed to traffickers. The Office of Refugee Resettlement told Congress in April that of the 7,000 children returned to relatives in fall 2017, it had lost track of 1,475 children. A PBS Frontline investigation called “Trafficked in America” that aired in April also discovered cases of teenagers being released to labor traffickers by the ORR. DNA testing kits could solve the issue by identifying relatives accurately. Google-backed 23andMe was prompted to offer its genetic-testing service by California Congresswoman Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), joining the same initiative as other genetic companies, such as MyHeritage. “I continue to be blown away by the outpouring of support from my constituents and companies in my district, including 23andMe,” Speier said in a statement to CNBC. 23andMe and MyHeritage are among the genetic-testing companies donating thousands of kits and working with relevant government and nonprofit organizations to distribute resources. But these companies also provoke fears about privacy and ownership of DNA.

We shouldn’t be in this position at all. The kids should not have to do this genetic backfill. Arthur Caplan head of medical ethics at the New York University School of Medicine

Both RAICES Texas and the Texas Civil Rights Project, prominent civil rights groups in the immigration movement, declined DNA kit offers. “These are already very vulnerable communities, and this would potentially put their privacy at risk,” RAICES spokeswoman Jennifer Falcon told the San Francisco-based national public radio station KQED. Security concerns are a primary reason for hesitation. Typically, if an individual under the age of 18 wants to provide a DNA sample, authorization by a parent or guardian is required. In this case, because the children cannot find their parents and are considered under the authority of the government, the question of who grants authority and gains access to the information is up in the air. “There are problems giving it to a commercial testing company. They do recreational genetics,” Caplan said. MyHeritage recently suffered a hack involving 92 million records. Law-enforcement agencies across the country and State Department and the U.S. military have also begun requesting the results of genetic-testing kits for their own purposes. Despite the risks, the DNA-testing companies are all promising privacy and claim to be in contact with nonprofit and legal aid organizations to distribute resources as soon as possible. “Of course we would take all precautions necessary, including any special measures required, to protect the families' privacy,” a 23andMe spokesman told CNBC. “Testing would only be used for reunification efforts and done through the families' attorneys and legal-aid groups to ensure civil rights are protected.” MyHeritage claims to be following the same trajectory, with the genetic-testing company planning to work with “relevant government and nonprofit organizations” to distribute the resources, according to spokesperson Rafi Mendelsohn.

Rapid testing on site could help reduce privacy risks