Categories: Politics

Vox Sentences: Internet down and protesters out in Iraq

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Migrant DNA collection program to expand; Iraqi protests met with force.

The Trump administration wants migrants’ DNA

Loren Elliott/AFP/Getty Images

The Trump administration plans to move forward with a program that collects and tests DNA from immigrants in federal detention, raising concerns about violations of privacy. [Vox / Nicole Narea]
A 2005 law requires federal law enforcement to collect DNA from all people in custody, but in 2010 Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano exempted people held in immigration detention. [Politico / Ted Hesson]
The new proposal would allow testing of data collected from any migrants under the purview of DHS. [NBC News / Daniella Silva]
After collecting the data, DHS would place DNA samples in an FBI criminal database. DNA tests could also be used to determine whether adult migrants traveling with children are actually the children’s parents. [Wall Street Journal / Michelle Hackman]
The plan raises concerns about privacy, both for immigrants and for American citizens who could wrongfully end up in custody. [The Verge / Zoe Schiffer]
ACLU lawyer Vera Eidelman denounced the plan: “mass collection alters the purpose of DNA collection from one of criminal investigation basically to population surveillance.” [NYT / Caitlin Dickerson]
While DNA collection is not invasive or complex in procedure, top Border Patrol officials warn that migrant processing at the border could be significantly slowed due to the new procedures. [The Guardian]

Iraqis protest unemployment and corruption

Anti-government protests in Iraq were broken up with bullets and tear gas, with 21 dead and over 200 injured so far. [AP / Qassim Abdul-Zahara]
Demonstrations that began early this week were spurred by unemployment, lack of public services, and Iranian influence in Iraq. [Al Jazeera]
While there have been protests against Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi’s government before, the current demonstrations’ timing and size pose the most serious challenge yet to his power. [NYT / Falih Hassan and Alissa J. Rubin]
As of Thursday, the government imposed a curfew and up to 75 percent of the country’s internet access is down. [Al Monitor / Ali Mamouri; CNET / Rae Hodge]

Miscellaneous

Eating alone is more common than ever. Often, it’s by choice. [Wall Street Journal / Ellen Byron]
Sen. Kamala Harris qualified for the October Democratic debates but is still carving out her place among the candidates. [Time / Molly Ball]
A man filed a $5.25 million lawsuit against a university for fraud in the use of his sperm donation to father at least 17 kids. [Washington Post / Meagan Flynn]
From Clinton to Trump, Senate Republicans have flipped the script on impeachment. [Vox / Li Zhou and Hannah Brown]
526 voters participated in an experiment about political discussion. Don’t worry, there was minimal fighting. [NYT / Emily Badger and Kevin Quealy]

Verbatim

“An interesting strategy for lowering the trillion-dollar deficit: increase everyone’s need to drink to get through each day’s news, then tax the heck out of the good alcohol.” [Professor Jacob Levy of McGill University, tweeting about US tariffs on European goods]