Ciudad Juarez.- More than 75 organizations led by the Esperanza Border Institute (Hope) called on President Joe Biden’s administration to implement protections for users of the CBP One digital application and restore access to asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border.
With wait times in Mexico of up to nine months, “kidnappings, sexual abuse, torture, and extortion have become common and are particularly directed at people waiting for or who have obtained a CBP One appointment,” they said.
Humanitarian and legal aid organizations, some of which support people on the move in Ciudad Juárez and El Paso such as Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, Derechos Humanos Integrales en Acción (DHIA), Save the Children Mexico, and the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS), also reported that people waiting for or having appointments with CBP One have been deprived of their liberty by Mexican authorities, detained at immigration stations, and returned to southern Mexico while attempting to present themselves at U.S. ports of entry.
‘Criminals are colluding with Mexican authorities’
According to the latest monthly report from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), since the appointment scheduling feature was introduced in CBP One in January 2023, through the end of August 2024, approximately 813,000 people have successfully scheduled appointments to appear at ports of entry “rather than risk their lives at the hands of smugglers,” nearly 44,700 during August.
However, the organizations noted that as a result of the long waiting periods to access one of the 1,450 daily appointments currently available, “CBP One users have been victims of unscrupulous actors, who are often in collusion with Mexican immigration authorities, including officers from the National Institute of Migration (INM) and agents of the Mexican National Guard,” they said.
“Many of the humanitarian and legal aid organizations at the U.S.-Mexico border have routinely assisted asylum seekers who missed their CBP One appointments due to kidnappings and other crimes in Mexico. However, U.S. authorities have not provided any formal procedure for rescheduling those appointments, and local CBP officers have consistently denied that they can do anything to reschedule appointments missed due to high-impact crimes and other compelling reasons,” they said.
They therefore called on the Biden Administration to maximize asylum processing at ports of entry for those with and without CBP One appointments, including at-risk individuals who cannot safely wait in Mexico, such as Mexican citizens seeking asylum, individuals with urgent medical and security needs, and those who are unable to use the CBP One app due to illiteracy and language barriers, disability, and others.
Pressure on Mexico
They also said that “the United States must stop pressuring Mexico to detain, relocate, and eventually deport people who transit through the country to reach the United States in search of safety.”
They did, however, ask that the Mexican government be pressured to end impunity for crimes and human rights violations committed against people on the move and people seeking international protection in the United States, including CBP One users, and to guarantee their protection.
They also urged the Mexican government to cease its practice of blocking access to ports of entry for people without CBP One appointments, including Mexican citizens seeking asylum.
They called for increasing the number of available CBP One appointments and eligible ports of entry, and allocating sufficient staff for processing at ports of entry.
“The Department of Homeland Security should significantly expand available CBP One appointments at the U.S.-Mexico border to reduce long wait times. In addition, the Department of Homeland Security should allocate sufficient staff to processing at ports of entry by increasing the number of Office of Field Operations (OFO) agents and efficiently utilize and reassign Border Patrol processing coordinators and other available personnel,” the document reads.
Another request is to “significantly expand the languages available in the CBP One app. The Department of Homeland Security should dramatically expand the number of languages available in the CBP One app, paying special attention to indigenous languages, and include text-to-speech options for people with disabilities. Even with an expanded range of languages in CBP One, speakers of minority and other languages, as well as many people with disabilities, will still not be able to use the app and should be allowed access to ports of entry to seek asylum and be exempt from rules prohibiting access to asylum.”
Narrowing the definition of “fraud” or creating meaningful exceptions to “fraud” for the purposes of CBP One appointment processing would help avoid punishing asylum seekers who are victims of bad actors or who, through lack of knowledge, receive incorrect information and advice about how to register and obtain an appointment through the App.
“Together with Mexico, make it a top priority to fund humanitarian organizations that provide shelter and humanitarian assistance to people on the move in Mexico, including individuals and families awaiting CBP One appointments,” they asked.
They also suggested that the State Department should issue an open and accessible call for applications to nonprofit organizations and local grassroots coalitions dedicated to supporting people awaiting appointments, as well as restore access to asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border by rescinding the Circumvention of Lawful Pathways Final Rule and the Securing the Border Interim Final Rule. (Hérika Martínez Prado)
#Protection #CBP #users #requested
