Migrants, families heading to Houston left in limbo after Trump shuts down CBP One app

Jesús was halfway into his shift as a cook at a sports club in Houston when he heard the news. The app that his wife, 14-year-old son, and 13-year-old daughter had used for five months in Mexico to request an appointment to enter the U.S. had been terminated by newly inaugurated President Donald Trump. 

Jesús, who is being identified by first name only while his asylum case is pending, came to Houston a year ago after getting an appointment through the same government smart phone app, known as CBP One. Since the Biden administration issued a policy requiring its use for most asylum seekers in May 2023, the app has been the primary way for asylum seekers to enter the U.S.  

The Venezuelan native migrated first so he could save money to pay for his family’s journey through the Colombian-Panamanian jungle and through Central America. Their reunification seemed near until Monday’s news.

“The thing is that it’s more time of me being without them and them being without me,” Jesús said.

The announcement of the app’s termination Monday almost immediately after Trump took office dashed the hopes of migrants like Jesús’ family who thought they were migrating the “right way.” Now, they are left in limbo, unsure if they should wait for another legal option, cross illegally or turn back to a country in a political and humanitarian crisis after traveling thousands of miles. 

Whatever the family decides, Jesús wants them to be together.

“They are my kids. I can’t abandon them,” said Jesús. 

Trump border policy 

The end of CBP One came with a flurry of executive orders Monday to restrict migration and declare a national emergency at the border. Former President Joe Biden already tightened asylum access through a June 2024 policy barring most people from seeking asylum between ports of entry. The CBP One app maintained some access to asylum until it was terminated Monday.

Immigrant rights advocates cautioned that the closure of the app, along with other border security and immigration policies announced Monday, will not stop migration, but just make it more dangerous.

These policies “will tear families apart, criminalize already-marginalized individuals, send asylum-seekers back into harm’s way, and directly benefit the criminal cartels that profiteer off of the vulnerability of asylum seekers at our southern border,” Abby Maxman, president and CEO of Oxfam America, a global organization fighting poverty and inequality, said in a statement.

The closure of the app was immediately challenged in court by the American Civil Liberties Union, which requested an immediate meeting with the judge and urged courts to act quickly to restore asylum access.

Ending CBP One is just the beginning of Trump’s planned changes at the border. Trump also pledged Monday to bring back the Remain in Mexico policy that forced asylum seekers to await their court dates in dangerous Mexican border cities.

Implementing this policy may prove difficult, however. The Supreme Court previously ruled in favor of the Biden administration’s decision to end the program. The policy also relies on cooperation from Mexico, which is uncertain.

‘Everything comes crashing down’

Migrants at a Reynosa shelter cried upon hearing the news, said R, 54, who fled threats from gang members in her coastal city in Honduras with her daughter more than a year ago. They waited for an appointment for more than a year.

“Imagine how much you wait, and then out of nowhere everything comes crashing down. It’s painful for us,” R said. Migrants still in Mexico are being identified by initials only because of the threat of kidnapping and violence there.

I, a 38-year-old Salvadoran woman who fled her abusive partner, had been waiting at the same shelter with her 12-year-old son for five months for an appointment. 

“We hope that God speaks to the heart of the president and he sees all the people who are here at this shelter with kids,” she said. “I hope he can see that we’re going for the chance of working and fleeing many threats.”

Migrants who got some of the last CBP One appointments said they were grateful for the opportunity to enter the U.S., but wished that other migrants had the same chance. 

Carlos Duarte, 44, a journalist who fled threats for his work in Honduras, remembered the relief of getting a CBP One appointment in December, after a year and a half of waiting in Mexico. 

“We’re leaving. Our suffering has ended,” he told his wife that day as he hugged her. 

Duarte, now in Houston, reached out Monday to friends still in Mexico awaiting their appointments, many who were upset and struggling to explain the change to their kids. 

“The cancellation of CBP One has ruined dreams,” Duarte said. “There’s little official information about the way that these families who have been waiting for so long can be prioritized to enter legally.”

Delmy, 40, who fled threats from gang members in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, entered the U.S.  through a CBP One appointment just days before the inauguration.

“It hurts me in my heart to know that so many people, who we were there with, are all waiting for the miracle of an appointment,” said Delmy, who is being identified by first name only while her asylum case is pending. 

After speaking with his wife late Monday night at the end of his shift, Jesús tried to continue to believe in this miracle. 

“We’re going to wait and see what else the president does, if he’s going to open another program for the people that stayed in Mexico,” Jesús said. 

He hopes his family will have another chance to come to the U.S., but their priority is to reunite, wherever that may be. 

“It’s hard to justify being here without them,” Jesús said. 

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