The UK's Border Agency is beginning a six-month pilot project to use DNA testing to determine the nationalities of people seeking asylum, reports the Observer. In conjunction with language analysis, interviews, and other techniques, the agency hopes to limit bogus claims in which people from one country are saying they are from another — particularly focusing on people claiming to be from Somalia — to increase their chances of receiving asylum. According to ScienceInsider, researchers have called this program "horrifying," "naïve," and "flawed" and that the agency is "[confusing] ancestry or ethnicity with nationality." Imperial College London's David Balding adds that "genes don't respect national borders, as many legitimate citizens are migrants or direct descendants of migrants, and many national borders split ethnic groups."
Genetic Future's Daniel MacArthur also weighs in:
ScienceInsider also has a list of key questions, such as which markers are being tested — the answer is that it's not known — here.