The Department of Homeland Security announced Monday a new mobile phone app designed to help illegal immigrants self-deport.
The move marks a reversal from the Biden administration, which used smartphone technology to help more than a million unauthorized migrants enter the U.S. Now the Trump administration is using that same technology to urge them to leave.
Known as CBP Home, the app prods illegal immigrants to schedule their departures and provide their information — and a photo — so authorities can be ready to usher them out.
“The app provides illegal aliens in the United States with a straightforward way to declare their intent to voluntarily depart, offering them the chance to leave before facing harsher consequences,” said Pete Flores, acting commissioner at Customs and Border Protection.
The app is part of a concerted effort to push illegal immigrants to leave on their own. Officials say it’s cheaper for the government, safer for officers and the migrants, and gives the migrants a chance to come back legally.
“The CBP Home app gives aliens the option to leave now and self-deport, so they may still have the opportunity to return legally in the future and live the American dream. If they don’t, we will find them, we will deport them, and they will never return,” said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
CBP Home replaces CBP One, the app the Biden administration used to streamline “parole” requests that allowed unauthorized migrants to enter the U.S.
The Biden team reasoned that the people were going to come one way or another, so scheduling their arrivals would at least give authorities some chance to make the process smoother — and, they hoped, would also cut down on the money paid to smuggling cartels.
Migrants who made it to northern Mexico could use the app to schedule a time to cross through a port of entry. People from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela, who got their own special parole program that allowed them to skip the border and fly directly into U.S. airports, also used the app to schedule those arrivals.
The rollout was plagued with technical problems and reports that cartels were still involved, charging migrants fees to jump the line and get CBP One approval even before they were in northern Mexico.
President Trump has undercut the Biden border logic by shutting down illegal crossings without needing the app.
Now, the new administration is looking to oust as many of the Biden arrivals as it can.
The updated CBP Home app includes a “Departing Traveler” section where someone can declare an “intent to depart.” The page is available in English, Spanish and Haitian Creole, reflecting the key demographics that arrived during the Biden years.
A new estimate Monday from the Federation for American Immigration Reform says the illegal immigrant population grew by about 4.1 million people during the Biden years, to reach 18.6 million total.
FAIR, an immigration control group, said Mr. Trump has taken steps to reduce the inflow at the border, but said the new calculations underscore the challenge in rousting those already here.
“Americans have seen the impact of the illegal immigration crisis play out in their communities all across the country. This new report provides hard data on the enormity of the illegal immigration surge that took place as a result of policies put in place by the Biden administration,” FAIR President Dan Stein said.
FAIR’s estimate is at the top end of guesses about the total illegal immigrant population.
