If you want I can dig up the articles in the thread, but yes it is a fairly large issue. The use of a database I believe from reading the article is to have it crosschecked with repeat criminal offenders who are attempting to get back into the country as well.
Yeah I'd like for digging. It's the first time I've heard of such a thing and while I'm sure it happens, it sounds like it's blown out of proportion to my Canadian mind. People will always try to game the system no matter what but you have to consider how often it happens and whether or not that justifies subjecting everybody to the same treatment that's designed to sniff out a few bad actors. I'm sure you wouldn't want to ban guns given your political background but it's the same kind of argument.
The high recidivism rate of those deported, along with the current trend to buy children seems to show a clear risk in letting people in that have not been properly established as to who they are and who they belong to. Mind you as a asylum seeker their information is going to be in a database, their picture, finger prints, name, all information given that they filled out, information provided by their home, etc etc, is going to be in a database, how is DNA any different?
Would you be comfortable with the government taking your DNA and storing that in a database somewhere indefinitely? I wouldn't... It's a bit of a lax attitude towards privacy to just say "how is DNA any different". I thought Americans appreciate small governments that kept their noses out of people's business.
Also and this is the most important point of all, these people are asking to enter the US, many times from some of the most dangerous countries in the world with very little information about their past history. How should they expect any amount of privacy when the Government is going to do everything possible to establish the identities of these people?
Being from a dangerous country doesn't make you a dangerous person. From my perspective the US is a pretty dangerous country considering its wealth, does that make Americans dangerous people? No! And everyone should expect some level of privacy... I think it's pretty inhumane to have the starting point as expecting no privacy. It's natural to think of your personal privacy as part of your basic dignity as a human being, and I would need a strong reason to consider taking that away. I don't know if you're conservative or not - you seem to be coming from a conservative point of view with regards to immigration - but conservatives used to care about that sort of thing. Seems a little odd to me how things have changed.
And lets say they are subsequently refused asylum, and deported, five months later they are caught trying to cross the border again and claim asylum, what is the problem with having a profiling system in place for all of those who attempt to gain asylum or enter the country illegally?
I don't think illegally seeking asylum is a crime worth profiling someone for. For me it's a bit of a victimless crime, like public drunkeness. Like if you haven't done anything else other than seek asylum illegally, what have you actually done? Who have you hurt?
I would say keep a national database for as long as the person remains alive, I cannot see the difference between this, and all the other checks we maintain on people who enter the country claiming asylum. How is having a DNA database any different than having a database with a person's picture in it, or fingerprints?
I don't believe in the government collecting information it doesn't need for a purpose that doesn't deserve its collection. How is a perpetual DNA database going to add value when you already have a person's picture or fingerprint?