Trump Shuts Down CBP One App, Signaling the Start of His Immigration Crackdown

The Trump administration on Monday abruptly closed down a government program created by the Biden administration to allow migrants to use an app to secure an appointment for admission into the United States through legal ports of entry, signaling the start of President Trump’s promised crackdown at the southern border.

Moments after Mr. Trump took the oath of office, an announcement posted on the CBP One program’s website declared that the app would no longer function and that “existing appointments have been canceled.”

The program, which debuted in early 2023, allowed 1,450 migrants a day to schedule a time to present themselves at a port of entry and seek asylum through U.S. immigration courts. More than 900,000 migrants entered the country using the app from its launch in the beginning of 2023 to the end of 2024.

A former Department of Homeland Security official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said that around 30,000 migrants had appointments to enter the U.S. through the app as of Monday morning.

The program was a key part of the Biden administration’s effort to gain control over migration through the southern border. On the one hand, the administration blocked asylum for migrants who crossed illegally. At the same time, U.S. officials believed that by offering migrants an organized way to enter legally through an app, they could discourage attempts to gain entry without authorization. Border numbers have dropped dramatically in recent months, and officials believe the program is a major reason.

“I would say that the model that we have built of restricting asylum at our southern border and building accessible, lawful, safe and orderly pathways for individuals to seek relief under our laws is the model that should be sustained,” said Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in an interview with NPR this month. “And we have delivered the border and those accessible pathways to the incoming administration.”

The end of the program will test that theory as the Trump administration moves toward a more restrictive policy at the border. The former homeland security official said that they estimated that, in total, nearly 300,000 migrants were in Mexico waiting to use the app.

Critics, especially Republican lawmakers, viewed the program as a way to allow those who otherwise had no way of entering the U.S. to come into the country and remain for years as their immigration cases languished in the courts.

“The fact that this application exists is the most underreported scandal of the Biden admin. They made an application to facilitate illegal immigration. It boggles the mind,” Vice President JD Vance said in a social media post last week.