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African refugee re-settlement stopped in US
Philadelphia News.Net
Wednesday 20th August, 2008
African refugees to the US may find it harder to be admitted after DNA testing revealed many people were lying about having relatives in the country.
Since 1990 a family reunification program has allowed thousands of Africans to settle in the country as refugees granted asylum.
Recent DNA tests on applicants from seven African countries have shown only about 20 per cent actually had a family relationship and the State Department has now called for DNA matching.
According to US officials, the applicants were not tested for a DNA match with their claimed relatives in the United States, but with each other to see whether they were related as claimed.
For example, a mother with several children applying to join a husband in America would be tested to see whether she was in fact related to the children.
The program has now been suspended in Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Guinea and Gambia.
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Comments on this story
Anonymous
08-20-08, 09:08 PM |
African refugee re-settlement stopped in US
Do they do DNA testing of all new people making a family claim or just the black ones?
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Plan B
08-21-08, 01:30 AM |
Plan B
They can try moving back to Africa to reunite with family...
But I hope they’ve been testing for AIDs on these refugees also, if not it may explain the dramatic increase in the US during that same period.
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erikajd
10-28-08, 12:13 AM |
response to questions
They do DNA testing on all refugees from Africa that have applied to come to the United States that are listed on the Affadavit of Relationship (AOR) of the sponsor in the United States. DNA testing is not the policy for other areas of the world, because there was not such a high level of fraud found in those areas. Both parties (the anchor sponsor and the family in Africa) are required to go in for DNA testing before their application will continue to be processed. If the DNA tests show that they are indeed family, then their application will continue to be processed.
They do test for AIDS as well and have for a long time, but they started a few years ago to let in Ethiopian refugees with AIDS and maybe other refugees as well.
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