(Trends Wide) — The launch Thursday of a feature of the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) mobile app that allows some migrants seeking a humanitarian exception to Title 42 to schedule an appointment at certain ports land-based entry was an overall “success”. However, migrants using the app faced “many challenges,” Sister Norma Pimentel, executive director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley, tells Trends Wide.
Pimentel is one of the best-known immigrant advocates in the Rio Grande Valley and helps run respite centers and faith-based shelters on both sides of the border, serving thousands of people.
By 10 a.m., all available appointments in Matamoros and Reynosa, located across the border from the Rio Grande, were taken, he said, adding that “many were still checking in at other ports of entry that had available appointments.”
A spokesperson for Doctors Without Borders expressed concern about the dangerous conditions in which migrants continue to live while waiting in the cities of northern Mexico.
“In these cities, thousands continue to live on the streets with extremely limited access to even the most basic services. They spend cold nights, skip meals, lack access to drinking water and sanitation, and are also highly exposed to different types of violence,” said Marcos Tamariz, the organization’s deputy chief of mission for Mexico and Central America.
Volunteers and community leaders are helping migrants who have difficulty connecting to the app or accessing the internet navigate the process.
Title 42 is a public health policy implemented during the pandemic that allows immigration agents to quickly return some migrants to Mexico. A Supreme Court ruling keeps the policy in place while legal challenges unfold in court. Thousands of humanitarian exceptions to Title 42 have been granted since May, Trends Wide previously reported.
Last week, the Biden administration announced several new border control measures, such as the expansion of Title 42 to migrants from Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua and Haiti, as well as new features of the “CBP One” app.
“The app is designed to discourage people from congregating near the border and creating unsafe conditions,” Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said at the time.
“CBP One is widely perceived as a step in the right direction to reduce risks along the route and ensure access to international protection. However, our concern continues to be the current situation that we observe in border cities such as Piedras Negras, Reynosa and Matamoros,” said Tamariz.
The CBP One app is available in English and Spanish only and the ports of entry that are available for appointments in Texas are Brownsville, Eagle Pass, Hidalgo, Laredo, and El Paso; Nogales in Arizona; as well as Calexico West and San Ysidro in California, according to the CBP website. CBP also states that the app is for migrants located in central and northern Mexico.
According to DHS, the app guides users to provide a live facial photo and submit advance information that a migrant would normally provide during their inspection at a port of entry. The migrant must also prove that they meet the vulnerability criteria for the Title 42 exception they are seeking. An appointment through the CBP One app does not guarantee that a Title 42 exception will be granted, according to an agency news release.
The Department says appointments begin on January 18, 2023.
After Title 42 is lifted, the application scheduling mechanism will be available to migrants seeking to make an appointment to apply for asylum at ports of entry, rather than arriving unannounced at a port of entry or between ports first, Mayorkas said last week.
