We, in the US, are supposed to be doing this too—DNA testing Somalis and others from certain countries to see if they are really related to the “family” member they are seeking to join.
I doubt we are doing it much.
In 2008 the US State Department closed family reunification for years due to the widespread fraud discovered in the program. It has only recently been reopened supposedly with the protection of some DNA testing.
In a follow-up to the widely read story we posted regarding new get-tough policies in Switzerland, here is news that some cantons in the country are requiring DNA testing to see if “refugees” are lying and claiming kinship where none exists.
From Press TV:
Certain Swiss Cantons are demanding systematic DNA tests on asylum-seekers who seek to be reunited with family members living in Switzerland.
Iris Rivas, head of migration services in the canton of Bern, said that the reason for DNA tests are that official papers from several countries are easily forged, Swiss newspaper Schweiz Am Sonntag reported Sunday.
“Identity papers or birth certificates must be considered as suspect” when presented by people seeking residence under the family reunification program, Rivas said.
The demand is also supported by the canton of Lucerne’s migration chief Alexander Lieb, who said, “Identity control in the case of family reunification is too lax.”
Under current Swiss law, DNA tests are allowed on a case-by-case basis when there is serious doubt that a claimant belongs to the same family.
Meanwhile, Switzerland has recently come under fire for its treatment of asylum seekers, including segregation and poor living conditions.
Police dismantled a protest camp this week at the Solothurn train station in the northwestern part of the country, where a group of ten asylum seekers protested against their living conditions in a subterranean bunker, describing it as “unworthy of a human being.”
The decision to end the rally was taken after police feared the demonstrators would be attacked by local residents who were outraged by the protest.