CBP One | Donald Trump | What options do migrants and asylum seekers have now that Trump eliminated the dating app?

They reached the border of Mexico with USA from Haiti, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, among other countries, downloaded the application CBP One On their cell phones, they entered their data while waiting for an appointment to be scheduled to process asylum and enter US soil. But on Monday, the App was abruptly removed as part of the first measures taken by the president. Donald Trumpwhich thus seeks to fulfill its radical campaign promises on immigration matters. Thousands of those who waited for months will no longer be able to get an appointment, while thousands of others who already had a scheduled date to begin their procedures will not be able to do so either. What alternatives do you have left?

CBP One was launched by the government of the Democrat Joe Biden on January 12, 2023, as a way of ordering the border crossings which in those days marked record numbers, and also prevent people from falling into the hands of the so-called coyotes who charge exorbitant amounts to help migrants cross illegally into USA.

The free tool was aimed at immigrants who were in Mexico and gave them a legal way to schedule an appointment and appear on an indicated date before the authorities at one of the eight points located along the border. While resolving his asylum applications migrants received a humanitarian permit that allows them legal and conditional entry to the United States.

Daily, through an online lottery system, The US authority granted appointments to 1,450 people.

Through this application, more than 930,000 people showed up at the ports of entry for authorities to process their cases, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

A former DHS official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that By Monday morning, some 30,000 migrants had appointments to enter the United States obtained through the application, according to The New York Times.

What will happen now?

A few weeks ago, then-Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in an interview with NPR that Nearly 300,000 migrants were in Mexico waiting to use the application to enter the United States.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) he told The Commerce that although well CBP One It was far from being a perfect tool and could involve a very long and arbitrary waiting process, its closure without any alternatives at the moment. create one scenario of uncertainty and marks a setback in terms of human rights.

“In our experience, the absence of legal, dignified and safe mechanisms can have serious consequences on the health and well-being of hundreds of thousands of people who cross the dangerous migratory route through Latin America fleeing contexts of violence, persecution, discrimination and lack of opportunities. The termination of CBP Onein conjunction with the cancellation of pending appointments, can cause greater stress, disorder and panic in the migrant population, risking them taking even more dangerous routes and leaving more people at the expense of human trafficking networks”he added.

Matthew Hudak, a former top Border Patrol official, told the NYT that the decision was a clear sign that things were changing on the southern border.

“The simple fact of wanting to migrate to the United States and sign up to stand in line will be replaced by stricter policies that will significantly raise the bar for those who intend to come hereincluding the reimplementation of the program Stay in Mexico”, he stated.

“Many will be forced to decide whether to follow the legal process or They will try to enter the country illegally and face what will likely be much more significant consequences,” he added.

A Homeland Security official told CNN that “there is a chance they will try to cross illegally now. They have nothing to return to. My bet is that a good part of them will try to cross.”

“They may wait a while to see what is going to happen. “Whether they wait a day or a few months, if they’ve come this far and are committed, eventually they’re going to try anyway,” the official added.

“Migrant smuggling will skyrocket”a Border Patrol agent told CNN. “Coyotes and smugglers are going to see their pockets grow”, he predicted.

What is Stay in Mexico? It is a policy promoted by Trump in 2018, during his first government, and which was reactivated on Monday by the magnate himself. It implies that people who enter the United States illegally or without the appropriate documentation to request asylum will be sent to Mexico to await the resolution of their immigration procedures.

But the president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaumdoes not agree with that policy. On Tuesday he said that The Trump Government must directly deport undocumented immigrants to their places of origin and not to Mexican territory.

The president argued that “more than receiving” these migrants “because it is a decision of the United States,” Mexico would give them “humanitarian attention.”

”Then the issue is, if those people are in Mexican territory, we serve them for humanitarian reasons, but We seek within the framework of our immigration policy, as foreigners, their return to their country of origin”he explained.

About the migrants who are stranded in Mexico after the cancellation of CBP OneSheinbaum stated that It will offer them the same, humanitarian aid and return to their countries.

“Of course they are voluntary returns“But it is important to inform them that, as we have done since we arrived in October (to the Government) and that is why this comprehensive humanitarian policy that we follow, that upon reaching the border they will not be able to enter the United States,” he stressed.

The Spanish newspaper El País explained that one of the few options left to migrants is to show up at a port of entry to the United States and declare their intention to apply for asylumwhich implies waiting or detention times.

Until Monday, another alternative was Humanitarian Parolewhich allowed the entry of more than half a million migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela. Trump also repealed it on Monday.