By NOMAAN MERCHANT
Associated Press

HOUSTON (AP) - U.S. border authorities say they've started to increase the biometric data they take from children 13 years old and younger, including fingerprints.

That's despite privacy concerns and government policy intended to restrict what can be collected from migrant youths.

Border Patrol officials say they have begun a pilot program to collect the biometrics of children with the permission of the adults accompanying them.

The Department of Homeland Security has warned of "child recycling," cases where they say children allowed into the U.S. were smuggled back into Central America to be paired up again with other adults in fake families.

But advocates say they're worried that in the name of stopping fraud, agents might take personal information from children that could be used against them later.

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.