Illegal migrants in US now have a saving grace: Trump's self-deportation app

The app comes as the Trump administration focuses on boosting the deportation push. The Customs and Border Protection app or CBP Home will allow users to offer a signal of their 'intent to depart'

US President Donald Trump’s administration on Monday launched a new mobile application, namely the ‘US Customs and Border Protection’ app. The app will allow illegal immigrants in the United States to ‘self-deport’ rather than face arrests or detention, according to a Reuters report.

 

The app comes as the Trump administration focuses on the deportation push. The Customs and Border Protection app or ‘CBP Home’ will allow users to offer a signal of their ‘intent to depart’.

 

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in a statement said, “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.” She added, “If they don’t, we will find them, we will deport them, and they will never return.”

 

 

CBP Home vs CBP One 

The CBP Home app replaces the CBP One app, which was launched under the Biden administration. The ‘CBP One’ app included a feature that allowed nearly one million migrants in Mexico to schedule an appointment to request entry at a legal border crossing. Many Republicans slammed the Biden administration and the app and claimed that it facilitated mass migration to the US and did not ‘adequately vet migrants’.

 

CBP One was shut down an hour after Trump took office and left migrants with pending appointments stranded and unsure of the next steps.

 

Trump’s stance on illegal immigrants 

Ever since taking office, Donald Trump has taken stringent measures to deport illegal immigrants in the US. From sending back illegal migrants to their country of origin to announcing a National Emergency on the Southern border to improve border security. During his first joint address at the US Congress on March 5, Trump claimed that due to his strict warnings, the illegal border crossing number has gone down drastically.

 

He termed his action as “the most sweeping border and immigration crackdown in American history,” and claimed that in the past month, the number of illegal crossings in the US was at its lowest ever. He credited this to the deployment of the border patrol and the military agents to counter “border invasion”.

 

Trump has also called out his predecessor for his ‘open border’ policy and claimed that hundreds of thousands of illegal crossings a month were witnessed during the previous administration. During his address, President Trump also said, “Over the past four years, 21 million people poured into the United States and many of them were murderers, human traffickers, gang members, and criminals from the streets of the dangerous cities, throughout the world.”

 

Another regulation by the Trump administration is set to come into effect on April 11 that would require people lacking legal status to register with the federal government or face fines or jail time.

 

[With agency inputs]