ACLU Statement on Draft Regulation to Massively Increase Extreme Vetting of Immigrants

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is considering a drastic expansion of the government’s collection of immigrants’ biometrics and personal information, including “eye scans, voice prints, DNA, and photographs for facial recognition,” according to BuzzFeed’s Hamed Aleaziz.

The following is a statement from Andrea Flores, deputy director of immigration policy for the American Civil Liberties Union:

“The Trump administration is, once again, trying to radically change America’s immigration system. This time, they’re contemplating a new requirement to collect unprecedented personal information from immigrants and the U.S. citizens who sponsor them throughout the immigration process and to potentially store that information even after the immigrants become citizens. Collecting a massive database of genetic blueprints won’t make us safer — it will simply make it easier for the government to surveil and target our communities and to bring us closer to a dystopian nightmare.

“Trump’s goal is clear: to shut down the legal immigration system and make immigration as difficult as possible. Will Congress let him?”