Federal authorities want companies to bid for a new contract to do more rapid DNA testing of migrants claiming to be families at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement worked with a private company earlier in May to do a short pilot of DNA testing. The program was dubbed Operation Double Helix. Now federal officials want to hire a company for version 2.0, which also aims to help identify migrants posing as families to get released inside the United States.
The government’s request for bids said the company will put rapid DNA testing equipment at seven of the busiest places on the border. But the locations will only be revealed to the eventual contract winner and can change based on migrant traffic.
The request also says as many 100 thousand tests could be needed over a 10-month period.
