Suspect Families: DNA Kinship Testing in German Immigration Policy

Abstract

Since the 1990s, many countries around the world have begun to use DNA testing to establish biological relatedness in family reunification cases. Family reunification refers to the right of family members living abroad to join relatives who hold long-term residence permits or are citizens of a given country. Using Germany as an exemplary case, the article explores different societal implications and consequences of parental testing for family reunification. Special attention is drawn to the implicit model of family and kinship that informs this immigration regime. We argue that DNA analyses for family reunification establish and strengthen a biological family model which is in contrast to the more pluralistic and social concepts of family in Germany and in many societies in Europe and North America. The argument is based on a document analysis and interviews with representatives of NGOs and immigration authorities, lawyers, geneticists, and applicants for family reunification.

Closer to the Truth: <i>DNA profiling for family reunification and the rationales of immigration policy in Finland</i>

“…In its statement, the Department of Forensic Medicine (HaVL 1999b) argued against the definite requirement of destroying the data of the tests. In contrast, the findings of our comparative project indicate that the result of DNA analysis seems to trump other forms of evidence of family ties in the family reunification procedure in Germany (Heinemann & Lemke 2013). …”

“…family ties -in a clear cut way on the basis of biological traits of the applicants; second, it provides a means to acquire exact, objective knowledge that cannot be manipulated by any individual. Deployment of DNA profiling narrows the family concept to biological ties mediated by DNA which is contradictory to extension and multiplication of family definitions in legislation and family policy (Heinemann & Lemke 2013;Lippert & Pyykkönen 2012;Taitz, Weekers & Mosca 2002). However, due to the features essential to this "geneticization", DNA testing can bring the immigration officials "closer to the truth" in their decisionmaking.…”

“…The purpose of DNA testing is generally seen as a supplementary technique of ascertaining the claimed family ties of immigrants who lack the required documents or whose documents are seen invalid by the authorities and who have not proved the existing of family ties in interviews. However, it seems to have become a standard procedure in national immigration administrations during the 2000s (Hautaniemi 2007;Heinemann & Lemke 2013;Holland 2011;La Spina 2012;Murdock 2008;Taitz, Weekers & Mosca 2002;Villiers 2010).…”

Biopolitical Citizenship in the Immigration Adjudication Process

“…But the notion of "fraud" is complicated in defining family relationships. Given the importance accorded the extended family in U.S. immigration laws of the post-1965 period, relying on DNA technology to prove the existence of familial relationships is problematic given that kinship bonds may be forged beyond heteronormative nuclear family units (Carsten 2004;Franklin and McKinnon 2001;Heinemann and Lemke 2013;Howell 2009;Levine 2008;Schneider 1980). Interviews revealed that lawyers were aware some people knowingly claimed biologically unrelated people as blood relatives in reunification petitions.…”

Biological citizenship across the borders: politics of DNA profiling for family reunification

“…For German immigration authorities the result of DNA analysis is the decisive information in making a decision if family reunification will be allowed or not, and it trumps all other evidence of family ties. In Finland, by contrast, the proof of genetic relatedness of the applicants is related to evidence of permanent family life acquired from the applicants' interviews, and immigration officials assess the cases on the basis of both narrative and biological evidence (Heinemann, Naue, and Tapaninen 2013;Heinemann and Lemke 2013a;Helén and Tapaninen 2013).…”