To ease crowding at the southern border, the United States launched an online system on Thursday that will allow migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border to apply for asylum online. 

To get exceptions from pandemic-era limits on asylum, migrants can use the CBP One app launched in 2020 with limited English and Spanish functionalities.

The Biden administration recently updated the app to make it easier for migrants at the border to apply for asylum.

This comes after the president announced new measures to reduce the number of migrants from Venezuela, Nicaragua, Haiti, and Cuba coming to the U.S.-Mexico border to seek asylum from there.

According to the official Customs and Border Protection (CBP) website, the app is free to download. The CBP said the app will enable non-citizens migrants to apply directly to the agency before a government official determines who gets in.

The CBPOne is reportedly replacing Title 42, which allows U.S. border officials to immediately expel migrants and asylum seekers on public health grounds.

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New Online Applications to Replace Title 42

With the Trump-era Title 42 rule about to end, the CBP is looking to replace it with online applications through CBPOne, the Associated Press reported.

Before the app became the main way of dealing with migrants asking for asylum, the CBP arranged exemptions through advocates, churches, attorneys, and migrant shelters. These advocates choose who gets in, though the CBP still has the final say.

This new system, however, will allow the migrants themselves to apply to the CBP directly, and it will be a government official who will determine who gets to come into the country after an appointment.

After applying, they must meet with a government official for an appointment, which can be done at one of eight border crossings.

In Texas, these are in El Paso, Hidalgo, and Laredo. For Arizona, it is in Nogales, while for California, it will be in Calexico and San Diego.

This is a different measure from the new Biden policy regarding migrants from Venezuela, Nicaragua, Haiti, and Cuba, as this deals with migrants already at the border rather than those still planning to leave their country and cross via the U.S.-Mexico border.

Online Application for Asylum Draws Mixed Reactions From Migrants, Catches Advocates Off-Guard

Following the rollout of this new online application policy, several migrants at the border spoke with the news outlet DW. They revealed that many did not have any smartphones in the first place, so they could not use the app.

However, those who own a smartphone said the app sometimes does not work. The app requires a smartphone, an email address, and reliable internet, and it was not available in Haiti's main languages, Creole and French. 

Immigration advocates were caught off-guard by the sudden announcement of the new policy. However, the Biden administration had already been signaling that they would introduce CBPOne for asylum seekers already at the border.

Priscilla Orta, a lawyer for the Lawyers For Good Government's Project Corazon in Rio Grande Valley, noted that the new policy resulted in "utter and complete confusion."

She said officials only told them last Friday that the app would be ready within a month but suddenly informed them on Monday that the rollout would be happening this week.

READ MORE: Venezuelan Migrants Decrease After New Biden Policy

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

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