As concerns for border security increase, policymakers are turning to genomics as a biometric for tracing individuals entering the country, identifying missing migrants' remains, processing refugee claims, and screening for human trafficking. Increasingly, genomic information is a part of legislation and policy as a universal and sustainable biometric. Genetic verification of claimed relationships is required for some refugees and proposed legislation would expand this practice.

Public Health Relevance Section Policies in the U.S. increasingly rely upon genomic information as a biometric to inform visa application processes, by verifying biological relationship claims or statehood claims, and broad DNA collection from non-criminals may help with missing persons, disaster victim, and terrorism investigations. The societal implications of these genomic applications are broad, with benefits and risks to the individuals undergoing testing, the communities in which they live, and the nation at large.