On President Donald Trump’s first day back in office, he announced an end to the CBP One app, which was expanded under former President Joe
Chloe Simon at MMFA:
On President Donald Trump’s first day back in office, he announced an end to the CBP One app, which was expanded under former President Joe Biden’s administration and was the sole way for migrants to request an asylum-seeking appointment for legal entrance into the U.S. Right-wing media celebrated Trump for ending Biden’s policy, which they claimed let “illegal aliens schedule their illegal immigration,” and praised the incoming president for launching “a crackdown on illegal immigration.”
Trump shut down the CBP One app, which was the sole way for people to legally request asylum in the U.S. under the Biden administration
During his first day back in office on January 20, Trump signed a series of executive orders targeting immigration. He declared a national emergency at the southern border, authorizing military personnel to go there, ordered the reinstatement of his previous “Remain in Mexico” policy, and terminated the CBP One app. [CBS News, 1/21/25]
Since its launch in 2020, the CBP One app had been a tool for the Department of Homeland Security to identify and track asylum-seekers while allowing some to enter the U.S. at legal ports of entry. According to NBC News, the Biden administration implemented the CBP One app “as a way to curb people crossing the southwest border illegally to request asylum.” The American Immigration Council explained: “The app has become the only way that migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border seeking asylum at a port of entry can preschedule appointments for processing and maintain guaranteed asylum eligibility. CBP One also became the only way that Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans seeking to secure travel authorization to obtain parole through special programs for those nationalities can submit their biometric information to CBP.” [NBC News, 1/20/25; American Immigration Council, 6/2/23]
Out of tens of millions of applications submitted through the app from January 2023 to December 2024, just 936,500 applicants were granted an appointment to request asylum. If asylum was granted, the approved person received a two-year permit that gave “eligibility to work.” [CBS News, 2/12/24; CBP, 1/14/25; NBC News, 1/20/25; PBS NewsHour, 1/20/25]
The CBP One app had been notably credited for decreasing illegal entry into the U.S. An August 2024 NBC News piece quoted Texas pastor Abraham Barberi that the app has “contributed to the decline” in illegal entries, suggesting that “now people think, ‘Well, I don’t have to go all the way to the border, I don’t have to cross the river illegally.’” Forbes also noted that immigration analysts have credited “the ability to use the CBP One app” in part with helping “reduce unlawful migration from Haiti,” adding, “If there is no way to enter legally and apply for asylum or obtain work, many people may choose to take their chances by crossing illegally.” According to PBS NewsHour, “Illegal border crossings by Cubans plunged under CBP One from a peak of nearly 35,000 in April 2022 to just 97 in September.” Additionally, PBS reported, “Migrant shelters along Mexico’s border with the U.S. are now occupied primarily by people seeking the online appointments.” [NBC News, 8/9/24; Forbes, 10/25/24; PBS NewsHour, 1/20/25]
The CBP One app served a purpose: a tool for asylum seekers to legally request asylum.
Donald Trump terminated it, and right-wing media celebrate it.