Immigration Authorities Shut Down Biden’s Migrant Asylum App, Cancel All Appointments for Thousands Waiting at Border

Making good on his promise, President Trump moves swiftly to lock down the southern border.

AP/Gregory Bull
Maria Mercado, who is from Colombia but arrived from Ecuador, gets emotional as she sees that her 1pm appointment was canceled on the U.S. Customs and Border Protection One app Monday. AP/Gregory Bull

The CBP One app rolled out by President Biden — which allowed migrants to request asylum by posting personal information and scheduling appointments at eight ports of entry into the United States — is no longer available.

A Customs and Border Protection statement said the end of the app took effect at noon on Monday as President Trump was sworn in. All future appointments have been canceled, the statement said. More than 1,450 migrants a day were being allowed to enter the country via the app, and thousands more had gathered in shelters on the Mexican side of the border awaiting appointments.

In his inaugural address, Mr. Trump announced he was set to declare a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border, vowing to reinstate the “Remain in Mexico” policy of his first term and end the “catch and release” policies implemented by the Biden administration that have seen hundreds of thousands of migrants released into America on their own recognizance over the last four years.

“I will declare a national emergency at our southern border,” Mr. Trump said in his speech. “All illegal entry will immediately be halted, and we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places in which they came.”

The Remain in Mexico policy, officially the Migrant Protection Protocols, which Mr. Trump first put into place in January 2019, was revoked by Mr. Biden in 2022. It requires migrants seeking asylum to remain in Mexico until their claims are processed and they attend a court date in the United States.

Mr. Trump said among his other plans are finishing the U.S-Mexico border wall that he built in his first term and building new immigrant detention facilities where migrants can be housed until they are expelled from the country. The president also announced he will move quickly to deport illegal immigrants, focusing on some 1 million migrants who most recently entered the country and those who have been accused of committing crimes.

Mr. Trump could also move to allow the use of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which would allow some state and local law enforcement to aid Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, Axios reported.

On another front, Mr. Trump has vowed to issue an executive order to end automatic citizenship for children of immigrants in the country illegally. The move will likely set up a clash over the 14th Amendment that could wind up at the Supreme Court. Mr. Trump has also vowed to strip federal money from so-called “sanctuary cities.”


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