The Trump administration is revoking the legal status of hundreds of thousands migrants who entered the United States through a Biden-era application and telling them to leave the country immediately.
Foreign nationals paroled into the U.S. through the CBP One app have received final termination notices and must self-deport or else face daily fines and forcible removal, DHS confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation Tuesday. Since January 2023, more than 900,000 non-citizens successfully scheduled asylum appointments through the CBP One before it was scrapped by the Trump administration in January.
“The Biden Administration abused the parole authority to allow millions of illegal aliens into the U.S. which further fueled the worst border crisis in U.S. history,” a DHS spokesperson said in a statement provided to the DCNF. “Under federal law, [Homeland Security Secretary Kristi] Noem — in support of the President — has full authority to revoke parole.”
“Formal termination notices have been issued, and affected aliens are urged to voluntarily self-deport using the CBP Home App,” the spokesperson continued. “Those who refuse will be found, removed, and permanently barred from reentry.”
First created in October 2020 for scheduling cargo inspections and other travel-related services, the Biden White House significantly expanded the scope of the CBP One app in January 2023. Under the Biden-era changes, the app enabled asylum seekers to schedule appointments to obtain exemptions at ports of entry and permitted them to submit biometric data to federal immigration authorities in order to apply for travel authorization and obtain parole.
The CBP One app allowed for about 1,400 appointments a day along the U.S.-Mexico border, a number that was far outpaced by the daily number of appointment requests. Asylum seekers reportedly made 166 million attempts to secure an appointment with U.S. immigration officials through the app in the past two years.
Republican critics of the app argued that the Biden administration was using it as a run-around to allow otherwise-inadmissible migrants into the country. Instead of adding to the chaotic scenes at the southern border amidst the illegal immigration crisis, hundreds of thousands of foreign nationals were able to apply for asylum through the app and land an appointment at a port of entry.
Following through on a long-held campaign promise, President Donald Trump scrapped the CBP One app on his first day back in the White House. All existing appointments scheduled for future dates were also terminated.
Less than two months later, the Trump administration unveiled the CBP Home app. The new iteration includes a feature that allows illegal migrants or other foreign nationals in the U.S. to declare their intent to self-deport. The White House has since strongly encouraged illegal migrants to leave of their own volition, a move they say saves government resources and gives illegal migrants a chance to return in the future.
“Illegal aliens should use the CBP Home app to self deport and leave the country now,” the DHS spokesperson stated to the DCNF. “If they don’t, they will face the consequences.”
The spokesperson added that such consequences for illegal migrants includes a fine of $998 dollars for each day they overstay their final deportation order. The safest option, DHS reiterated, was for these individuals to self-deport.
“Canceling these paroles is a promise kept to the American people to secure our borders and protect national security,” the DHS spokesperson said. Those who entered through the Operation Allies Welcome for Afghan refugees and Uniting for Ukraine program are not impacted.
The Tuesday announcement was just the latest in the Trump White House’s efforts to dismantle mass parole initiatives established and expanded under President Joe Biden’s tenure.
Termination notices were sent in March to the hundreds of thousands of migrants who entered the U.S. through the CHNV parole program. That program, which began under the Biden administration, flew in over half-a-million migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela over the past several years.
Much like the CBP One app, GOP lawmakers accused the Biden administration of simply using CHNV as a means to loosen pressure on the southern border, allowing foreign nationals to fly into the country en masse instead of crossing an already-chaotic border. The program was so riddled with fraud, the Biden White House had to place it on pause after an internal audit discovered a litany of discrepancies from applicants and their sponsors.
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