U.S. launches online system to seek asylum on border

The Biden administration on Thursday launched an online appointment system for migrants seeking exemptions from pandemic- era limits on asylum — the U.S. government’s latest major step in eight days to overhaul border enforcement.

U. S. Customs and Border Protection began allowing migrants to make appointments up to two weeks out using its website and through CBPONE, amobile app that the agency has used in limited ways since 2020. CBPONE is poised to replace an opaque, bewildering patchwork of exemptions to a public health order known as Title 42 under which the government has denied migrants’ U. S. and international rights to claim asylum since March 2020.

Until now, CBP has arranged exemptions through advocates, churches, attorneys and migrant shelters, without publicly identifying them or saying how many slots were available. The advocates have chosen who gets in, with CBP having final say.

Under the new system, migrants apply directly to the agency, and a government official will determine who gets in. Their appointmentswill be at one of seven crossings— at Brownsville, El Paso, Hidalgo and Laredo in Texas; Nogales, Ariz.; and Calexico and San Diego in California.

Exemptions for Title 42 aremeant to go to themost vulnerable migrants.

Thursday’s rollout is separate from measures announced last week to expel migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to Mexico under Title 42 and — at the same time — allow up to 30,000 migrants fromthose four countries to be admitted to the United States every month under humanitarian parole for two years if they apply online, pay their airfare and provide a financial sponsor.

While the administration previously signaled that it would introduce CBPONE for people seeking asylum at land border crossings with Mexico, the speed of change caught advocates off-guard.

“Utter and complete confusion,” said Priscilla Orta, an attorney at Lawyers For Good Government’s Project Corazon in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley.

U. S. officials told advocates Friday they expected the app to be ready in a month, Orta said. Then on Monday, advocates were informed the rollout had been moved up to this week.

Under Title 42, the U. S. has expelled migrants 2.5 million times since March 2020 on grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19. To qualify for an exemption under CBPONE, migrantsmust have a physical or mental illness, disability, pregnancy, lack housing, face a threat of harm, or must be under 21 years old or over 70.

The government’s app is available in English and Spanish and requires access to a smartphone, email and reliable internet.

U. S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-mccormick, a Florida Democrat and Haitian American, expressed concern that the app wasn’t available in Haiti’s primary languages, Creole and French.

The Homeland Security Department didn’t immediately respond to specific questions about the rollout but said the app will be available to migrants in central and northern Mexico. Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement that it allows people “to seek protection in a safe, orderly, and humane manner and to strengthen the security of our borders.”

It’s the administration’s latest attempt to address extraordinarily high numbers ofmigrants at the U.S.-MEXico border, many of whom are fleeing inequality and violence at home. U. S. authorities stopped migrants 2.38 million times in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, up 37% from1.73 million times during an unusually busy 2021.