Trump administration’s ‘CBP Home’ app allows for self-deportation
YUMA, AZ (AZFamily) — The Trump administration has launched a new self-deportation mobile app called CBP Home. This app rebrands the Biden administration’s CBP One app, which was originally designed for migrants to schedule asylum appointments.
On his first day in office, President Trump shut down the CBP One app, cutting off a key pathway for migrants to seek asylum. Now, the Department of Homeland Security is directing undocumented individuals in the U.S. to use the updated version as a tool for self-deportation.
CBP Home allows immigrants to signal their intent to leave the U.S. by uploading photos and providing details about their country of origin and planned destination.
Darius Amiri, an immigration attorney with Rose Law Group who has defended hundreds of clients from deportation, is skeptical about the app.
“I’m curious if they were considering ‘CBP Go Home’ Cause that is what it feels like: sign up here or else we’re going to come get you and deport you,” said Amiri.
“If you register here, if you provide this info, there is a good likelihood they will use it to track you down, come to your home, deport you even if the purpose is for people to leave on their own terms,” he said.
The Biden administration introduced the CBP One app in 2023, allowing migrants to schedule appointments at ports of entry. Over 900,000 people successfully scheduled appointments and Amiri believes CBP One served its purpose.
“CBP One app worked. It let people wait in an orderly fashion and show up when they were scheduled to show up. I think by canceling it, if anything they are over burdening an already burdened system,” he said.
DHS officials say the CBP One app, which thousands of migrants have downloaded, will automatically update to CBP Home, but it raises the question of whether people will use it.
“I don’t think people will be signing up in droves to self deport but it is possible that some might use it. Some rather deport on their own terms then the possibility of getting arrested, and being separated from their family in such a traumatic way. If you’re arrested you can be held in a deportation center. That’s not a great place to be in,” said Amiri.
Although some migrants fear arrest, Amiri noted an even greater fear drove them to flee their homes. “The typical immigrant comes here because they were forced to leave their country or they’re a refugee,” he said.
“The CBP Home app gives aliens the option to leave now and self-deport, so they may still have the opportunity to return legally in the future and live the American dream. If they don’t, we will find them, we will deport them, and they will never return,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said.
As the Trump administration touts incentives for self-deportation, Amiri said he’s doubtful.
“I don’t anticipate any type of pathway from this administration,” he said.
Amiri highlights the “10-year bar.” It’s a law that prevents reentry for ten years to individuals who were unlawfully present in the U.S. for over a year. Amiri said individuals who self-deport would still be subject to that law.
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