Abstract
In April 2018, the U.S. implemented a “zero-tolerance” immigration policy that would lead to the separation of more than 2,000 migrant families over the following months. By that summer, the policy and resultant family separations had generated a media storm that swept up the public. In early June, the government announced its consideration of DNA testing to aid in the detection of human trafficking in immigration contexts. Later that month, as the government retracted the child separation policy, the public began questioning how children and adults would be reunited and discussing the potential usefulness of DNA testing for those reunifications. Then in early July, the government announced that DNA testing was indeed being used, and by mid-month the public’s outrage over the use of DNA was strong. We set out to examine the public dialogue on DNA testing—including misunderstandings and miscommunications—both in newspaper coverage and on Twitter in the 2-month summer period of 2018, at the height of public discussion of migrant family separations and then reunifications. We performed database searches identifying 263 newspaper articles and used Twitter’s advanced search function identifying 153 Tweets containing discussion of the use of DNA for migrant family reunification. Upon the resulting sources, we performed content analysis, analyzing for slant on the immigration policy and the use of DNA tests using a combination of open and closed codes. Our analysis showed that perspectives on the use of DNA diverged in connection with perspectives on the immigration policy, and that there was a contrast among the cohorts in the stated utility of DNA testing. These findings offer insight into a) how DNA testing in a highly politicized immigration context was represented in media coverage and b) the public’s understanding of the role that DNA testing could or should play in immigration. By detailing the role that comments from experts, stakeholders, and the public played in these discussions, we hope to provide lessons for communications with the public about future non-medical applications of genetic technologies.
Highlights
The first DNA test using PCR of short tandem repeats (STRs) was for a case published by Alec Jeffreys in 1984 to prove parentage between a Ghanaian child and his parents for immigration purposes (Jeffreys et al, 1985)
We found that the Tweets published in June were primarily pro-DNA testing, whereas the Tweets in July, were neutral, anti-DNA testing and pro-DNA testing
One clear need is improved science communication among our genetics trainees and opportunities for journalists to gain a foundational training in genetics
Summary
The first DNA test using PCR of short tandem repeats (STRs) was for a case published by Alec Jeffreys in 1984 to prove parentage between a Ghanaian child and his parents for immigration purposes (Jeffreys et al, 1985). Since the 1980s, most Western countries have expanded the use of DNA testing in immigration contexts (Weiss, 2011). Over 30 years later, in the summer of 2018, the DNA testing of families at the United States-Mexico border became one of the focal points of an international public debate over the “zero-tolerance” policy that criminalizes crossing the border and resulted in the separation of children from adult family members. Interested in the role of DNA testing as perceived in the public sphere, we were motivated to perform an autopsy of the cascade of events in June and July 2018 (Farahany et al, 2019). Because use of DNA testing in immigration is not new, we wanted to understand how the public was talking about the use of genetic information during this timeframe and examine the accuracy of the public dialogue in the news and social media
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
