More than 900K migrants who entered US with Biden-era CBP One app told to self-deport

WASHINGTON — The Department of Homeland Security is urging nearly 1 million asylum seekers who entered the US through the CBP One app to “immediately” begin to “self-deport.”“Canceling these paroles is a promise kept to the American people to secure our borders and protect national security,” a DHS spokesperson said, following anecdotal reports from migrants that they had been told to return to their countries of origin.The CBP One smartphone app launched in January 2023 and through December 2024 was used to admit more than 936,500 people claiming persecution in their homelands, according to DHS data.Users were granted permission to live and work for two years in the US as they awaited the outcome of often backlogged local immigration proceedings.“Formal termination notices have been issued, and affected aliens are urged to voluntarily self-deport using the CBP Home App.Those who refuse will be found, removed, and permanently barred from reentry,” the DHS spokesperson said.Then-President Joe Biden’s administration launched the app to tamp down record-high illegal border crossings, but congressional Republicans accused Biden of illegally exceeding the traditional “parole” authority, which they said could not be granted categorically.The Trump DHS spokesperson said: “The Biden Administration abused the parole authority to allow millions of illegal aliens into the US which further fueled the worst border crisis in US history.”Precise data about the number of people impacted by the move is unclear for a variety of reasons — including the fact that some may have already been granted asylum, while others may be shielded by additional legal protections.The CBP One app was launched with a goal of facilitating the orderly movement of would-be illegal border crossers into the US from northern Mexico.

Although geared to nationalities such as Haitians and Venezuelans flocking to the southwest border, Mexicans and citizens of other countries could ...