Jeff Sessions says US may use DNA tests to verify family relationships at border

Attorney General Jeff Sessions may use DNA tests to verify the relationship between children and adults who cross the border illegally.

The Department of Health and Human Services says 12,000 children are in custody after entering the U.S. at the border, and 10,000 of those are unaccompanied minors.

The remarks came during an interview with Family Research Council President Tony Perkins on his radio show Washington Watch.

Sessions said: “We know for a fact that a lot of adults taking children along are not related to them. [They] could be muggers. They could be human traffickers. It’s a very unhealthy dangerous thing and it needs to end.”

After the interview with Sessions, Perkins said in a statement:

“They are looking at how to use DNA tests in the field to verify they are parents and not traffickers. The reality is if American parents put their kids through what these immigrant parents have done to their kids — they would be charged with child abuse.”

The Justice Department has yet to respond with any official announcements.

Advertisement