For millions of people from Haiti, Venezuela and around the world, the dream of settling in the United States was crushed after President Donald Trump took office. US Customs and Border Protection announced Monday that the CBP One app that worked as recently as that morning would no longer be used to admit migrants after facilitating entry for nearly 1 million people since January 2023.
According to the Associated Press (AP), thousands of applicants whose appointments were scheduled for February were told that they were cancelled. That was it, people didn’t have anyone to appeal to or anyone to talk to about the issue.
CBP One has been wildly popular, especially among Venezuelans, Cubans, Haitians, and Mexicans. By afternoon, the app was down and they were stranded at the US border or deeper in Mexico.
CBP One is a lottery system that gives appointments to 1,450 people a day at one of eight border crossings. With the app, people could immigrate to the US on “parole”, a presidential authority that former President Joe Biden used more than any other president since it was introduced in 1952.
Its end aligns with Trump’s campaign promises and will satisfy critics who view it as an overly generous policy that attracts people to Mexico’s border with the United States.
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CBP One which was launched in January 2023, was a critical piece of the Biden administration’s border strategy to expand legal way while cracking down on asylum for people who enter illegally.
Several migrant shelters in Mexico are now filled mostly with people who check their phones daily, hoping for an appointment. US Customs and Border Protection reports that around 280,000 people attempt daily for the 1,450 available slots. The termination of CBP One will coincide with the reinstatement of the “Remain in Mexico” policy, a measure from Trump’s first term that required approximately 70,000 asylum-seekers to remain in Mexico while awaiting their U.S. immigration court hearings.
Matthew Hudak, who retired last year as deputy chief of the Border Patrol, told AP that the demise of CBP One could encourage people to cross illegally. To be effective, it must be coupled with something like “Remain in Mexico”.
“The message with CBP One being shut down is basically, ‘Hey we’re not going to allow you to show up; the doors are not going to be open.’ For that to be meaningful, there has to be some level of consequence if you bypass any lawful means and you’re doing it illegally,” he reportedly said.
