Migrants at US borders react to CBP One being shut down by Donald Trump

A wave of emotion swept over many migrants as they learned that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection had decided on January 20 to discontinue the use of the CBP One app for migrant admissions.

These individuals, hailing from Haiti, Venezuela, and various corners of the globe, had gathered at several border crossings in northern Mexico, eagerly awaiting their chance to enter the United States after months of anticipation.

Their dreams, however, turned to heartbreak and disbelief just moments after President Donald Trump assumed office.

The announcement from U.S. Customs and Border Protection came as a shock, revealing that the CBP One app, which had successfully facilitated the entry of nearly 1 million people since January 2023, would no longer be operational.

Applicants were informed that tens of thousands of appointments scheduled for February had been abruptly canceled.

In Tijuana, where the app had allowed 400 people to cross daily into San Diego, Maria Mercado hesitated before checking her phone.

When she finally mustered the courage to look, tears streamed down her face; her family’s appointment had been set for 1 p.m. on January 20, arriving four hours too late.

“We don’t know what we are going to do,” she said, standing with her family within view of the United States.

She left Colombia decades ago after it was overrun by drug cartel violence, heading to Ecuador. When cartels besieged her new homeland, the family fled again, in June, this time to Mexico, hoping to reach the U.S.

“I’m not asking the world for anything — only God. I’m asking God to please let us get in,” she said.

Immigrants around her hugged or cried quietly. Many stared ahead blankly, not knowing what to do. A nearby sign urged people to get the CBP One app. “This will facilitate your processing,” it said.

CBP One has been wildly popular, especially with Venezuelans, Cubans, Haitians and Mexicans. Now, they were stranded at the U.S. border or deeper in Mexico.

Jairol Polo, 38, tried getting an appointment for six months from Mexico City before getting one for Wednesday, Jan. 22, in Matamoros, across from Brownsville, Texas. The Cuban man flew Monday, Jan. 20, from Mexico’s capital to learn at the Matamoros-Brownsville border crossing that his appointment was cancelled.

“Imagine how we feel,” he said dejectedly while smoking a cigarette.

People with morning appointments got through on schedule. Andrum Roman, a 28-year-old Venezuelan, was in the last group to cross the border with the CBP One in Ciudad Juarez, across from El Paso, Texas.

“We are a little safer now because we are here,” he said just before handing over his documents to U.S. authorities. “But you still don’t know what’s going to happen,” he said.

Another Venezuelan, Rober Caruzi, entered El Paso right behind him. “I reached the border twice and I was returned twice, but I didn’t lose hope,” he said.

By afternoon, shortly after those who had an earlier appointment were lucky to enter the US, the app went down, leaving migrants distraught.

CBP One is effectively a lottery system that gives appointments to 1,450 people a day at one of eight border crossings. People enter the U.S. on immigration “parole,” a presidential authority that former President Joe Biden used more than any other president since it was introduced in 1952.