The fate of many asylum seekers in the U.S. now hangs in the balance due to recent developments involving the CBP One app. Nearly a week has passed since the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued notices to some asylum seekers, instructing them to leave the country within seven days. This move has sparked confusion and uncertainty among the affected individuals, many of whom have been navigating the complex immigration system for years.
Since the CBP One app’s introduction in January 2023, approximately 900,000 individuals have utilized this Biden-era initiative to secure appointments for asylum processing at U.S. border crossings. However, the program faced a significant setback when President Donald Trump halted it immediately upon taking office on January 20. Before this, asylum seekers like Wendy Lopez endured long waits, sometimes lasting months or years, to secure one of the limited daily appointments.
Lopez, who fled El Salvador after gang members targeted her family, has been seeking asylum in the U.S. for nearly a decade. Her struggle culminated in a legal victory last October, granting her and her family asylum status. “Because I know that it’s almost impossible for most people to win asylum here,” Lopez shared in Spanish, “I felt like the luckiest woman.”
In the fall of 2023, Lopez and her family managed to enter the U.S. through CBP One after months of effort, only to find their asylum status challenged shortly after it was granted. The news came via an email from DHS, prompting anxiety and uncertainty. “Imagine, feeling all this joy and just days later, they don’t tell you no, but that they don’t agree,” Lopez commented. “And you have to go back to the same thing of not knowing what’s going to happen or having a definitive answer.”
As they wait for legal advice, Lopez’s family, along with many others, face the daunting decision of whether to remain in the U.S. or comply with the notice. Dora Rodriguez, an immigrant rights activist in Tucson, describes her phone as flooded with messages from families grappling with this dilemma. “We have families who said ‘well, I’m just going to hide, because I can’t go back to my home country, I will be killed, so I prefer to hide,’” she explained.
The situation has led some families to make difficult choices, such as a Venezuelan family who opted to leave for Mexico despite the potential dangers. “They don’t know how Mexico’s going to treat them, or if they’re going to be in the hands of organized crime,” Rodriguez noted.
CBP One recipients are granted a temporary status known as humanitarian parole, which offers deportation protection for two years and a work permit. However, they must pursue additional legal measures, like asylum, for a permanent stay. Monica Cordero from the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project emphasizes the importance of attending court dates to avoid deportation orders. “According to the law, if they don’t show up for an existing court hearing, the judge has the authority to issue a removal order, a deportation order,” she stated.
In light of these developments, DHS has instructed recipients to report their departure through CBP Home, the app’s latest iteration under the Trump administration. While the exact number of affected CBP One users remains unknown, DHS has cited discretionary authority for these actions. Esther Sung from the Justice Action Center highlights the unprecedented nature of these mass revocations of parole. “Never before in the history of the parole authority granted to the executive has the president or the executive attempted to engage in mass revocations of individual grants of parole,” she remarked.
As families like Lopez’s navigate this uncertain terrain, they are urged to prepare for possible outcomes, including potential separation from their children. “Because anything can happen, right? But it’s something that terrifies me — to be separated from my children, especially for something unfair, because I’m doing things right,” Lopez expressed. Despite the challenges, she remains determined to fight for her family’s future, underscoring the resilience and resolve of many in similar situations.
