The immigrant aid group RAICES has declined direct-to-consumer genetic testing company 23andMe's offer to help reunify families separated at the southern US border, KQED reports.
In recent tweets, 23andMe CEO Anne Wojcicki offered her company's genetic testing kits and services to help unite children and parents who had been separated. According to USA Today, more than 2,300 children have been separated from their families at the border, though the Associated Press adds that President Donald Trump has ordered such family separations to end.
Wojcicki said 23andMe reached out to RAICES Texas to help in reunifying families, but KQED reports that the organization has said that genetic testing could cause more problems than it solves. "These are already very vulnerable communities, and this would potentially put their private information at risk," Jennifer Falcon, a RAICES spokesperson, tells KQED. "Essentially we're solving one violation of their civil rights basically with another."
Indeed, Wired had noted that genetic testing would raise a number of issues, including around consent — especially from the children involved — and privacy and the Verge added it could raise civil liberties issues.
The AP adds that it's unclear how separated families might be reunited.