[privacy] DNA Testing A Mixed Bag For Immigrants

[<rms () bsf-llc com>]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/24/AR2006102401
448_pf.html
 
DNA Testing A Mixed Bag For Immigrants
In Visa Cases, Certainty Has a Cost, Lawyers Say


By N.C. Aizenman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 25, 2006; A01




DNA testing has emerged as a powerful and sometimes controversial tool for
U.S. residents seeking to help overseas relatives enter the country legally.

The tests have been invaluable for thousands of citizens or permanent
residents who want to sponsor relatives but lack birth certificates or other
documents to prove the family relationship. But some immigration lawyers
worry that U.S. authorities are increasingly requiring DNA tests even when
the paperwork is in order -- adding substantial costs and delays to an
arduous process.

"What's troubling is that it seems like the availability of DNA testing is
leading to a greater level of mistrust of identity documents that otherwise
would have been readily accepted," said Alison Brown, a lawyer based in
Silver Spring.

Last year, about 718,000 people were granted permanent residency or a
temporary visa on the basis of being a parent, child or sibling of someone
who was a U.S. citizen, permanent resident or temporary visa holder.

Officials at the State and Homeland Security departments said they do not
track the number of DNA tests submitted by people seeking to sponsor a
relative for a visa. But the AABB (formerly the American Association of
Blood Banks), the accrediting organization for laboratories that do DNA
testing for immigration applications, receives about 12 e-mails or phone
calls a day from people seeking referrals for immigration purposes, a
spokeswoman said. At Fairfax Identity Laboratories, one of two DNA
laboratories in the Washington region accredited to handle immigration
cases, the number of requests for tests has increased about 20 percent, to
about 2,000, in the past year, said Joe Chimera, senior vice president.

Immigration lawyers interviewed in the Washington area said officials who
process visa applications at U.S. consulates overseas appear to be driving
the increase in DNA testing.

"In many consulates, DNA testing has really become the norm," said Daniel
Park, whose Alexandria-based practice serves mostly clients from Latin
America.

...

_______________________________________________
privacy mailing list
privacy () whitestar linuxbox org
http://www.whitestar.linuxbox.org/mailman/listinfo/privacy