The United States launched an online system on Thursday that allows migrants at the border with Mexico to apply for asylum online.
\nThe app, called CBP One, has been available with limited functionality\u00a0in English and Spanish since 2020.
\nBut now, the Biden administration has expanded the system so that migrants in central and northern Mexico can upload their biographical information and a photo to request an appointment at eight border crossings in Texas, Arizona and California.
\nBorder bureaucracy to be streamlined
\nThe expanded app rollout comes amid the Biden administration’s overhaul of immigration protocols.
\nSince March 2020, immigration has been restricted under Trump-era COVID measures known as\u00a0Title 42.
\nCritics say the restrictions are no longer necessary to protect public health, but the rules will remain in place at least\u00a0until the Supreme Court makes a final judgment\u00a0later this year.
\nUnder this system, asylum seekers had to prove exceptional circumstances \u2014 such as having a disability, being pregnant, or facing the threat of violence \u2014 and navigate an opaque network of churches, attorneys and migrant shelters in order to receive an exemption to the Title 42 rules.
\nThe expansion of CBP One will allow these migrants to directly lodge their application with the US Customs and Border Protection agency ahead of time.
\nSeparately, the Biden administration expanded Title 42 migration restrictions last week to expel asylum seekers coming from\u00a0Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
\nMigrants report mixed results
\nDW’s Washington bureau chief Ines Pohl spoke with migrants at a camp on the US-Mexican border and found that many didn’t have smartphones to use the app in the first place.
\nThose who did have smartphones said the app didn’t always work, she said.<\/p>\n