Sponsors (11)
The bill strengthens tools and processes to detect and deter adults who exploit minors at the border, but does so at the cost of compelled genetic testing, increased risk of family separation and prosecution for legitimate caregivers (especially in culturally diverse families), and added administrative burdens on agencies.
People at the border: adults who use unrelated minors to evade immigration controls are more likely to be arrested and face criminal penalties, which can deter human trafficking and some forms of alien smuggling.
Unaccompanied or at-risk children: minors found traveling with unrelated adults are more likely to be identified and routed into ORR care and child-protection services instead of remaining with potentially exploitative adults.
DHS and border officers: officials gain a standardized verification process (documents, witnesses, DNA, interviews) to assess claimed family relationships at ports of entry and during processing, improving consistency of enforcement actions.
Immigrants seeking entry: the bill can force DNA testing (and treat refusal as grounds for inadmissibility), raising significant privacy, consent, and bodily‑autonomy concerns for adults at ports of entry.
Children and legitimate caregivers (including kinship and extended‑family arrangements): adults who are bona fide caregivers but lack specified documents, witnesses, or whose relationships fall outside second‑degree consanguinity risk being denied entry or separated from the child, disproportionately affecting immigrant and culturally diverse families.
Adults traveling with nonrelative minors and the minors themselves: the criminal penalties and broad definitions risk prosecuting or indirectly criminalizing legitimate humanitarian or caregiving travel, increasing chances of detention, family separation, and legal uncertainty.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Requires adults entering with minors to prove kinship by documents/witness or HHS DNA test and creates a felony for knowingly using a nonrelative minor to enter the U.S.
Official title: Amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to require a DNA test to determine the familial relationship between an alien and an accompanying minor.
Introduced January 9, 2025 by Marsha Blackburn · Last progress January 9, 2025
Bars admission of any adult (18+) into the United States with a minor unless the adult proves a familial or legal guardianship relationship by documents and a witness or by an HHS-administered DNA test; refusal or failure can make the adult inadmissible and the child an unaccompanied alien child. Creates a new federal felony for knowingly using a nonrelative minor to enter the United States, carrying fines and up to 10 years imprisonment, and authorizes DHS to investigate, detain, and, where indicated, arrest adults who cannot prove a relationship or who are suspected of trafficking or smuggling. The bill adds these requirements and penalties to the Immigration and Nationality Act and to Title 18 of the U.S. Code, defines key terms (minor, recycling, relative), and directs DHS and HHS roles for evidence collection and DNA testing. It focuses on preventing human trafficking and misuse of children to obtain admission, while expanding enforcement and criminal liability for facilitators and adults who present minors at the border or ports of entry without close kinship or guardianship evidence.