The Trump administration is completely repurposing the problematic CBP One phone app that allowed more than a million migrants to flock into the US.
The new app will allow migrants to report their details so that they can voluntarily leave the country instead of being thrown out by ICE, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem said Monday.
Noem said the option to “self-deport” is preferable for migrants who are in the country illegally.
“If they don’t, we will find them, we will deport them, and they will never return,” Noem warned.
Former President Joe Biden waved more than 1 million migrants into the country using the app, but that all ended the moment President Trump entered office.
DHS immediately canceled all pending appointments and shut down the functionality on the app. Migrants in Mexico waiting for their entry appointments were left sobbing in despair.
Now the app will feature a “Submit Intent To Depart” button for illegal migrants, notifying the feds of their intent to leave the country.
The new program comes as the Trump administration continues to focus on ramping up ICE arrests and deportations, while shutting down the border to illegal crossings.
Trump terminated the CBP One entry program, which allowed thousands of migrants to fly directly into the US or walk across the border at inspection points, on his first day back in office.
ICE also began taking to the streets in deportation raids across the US, prioritizing the arrests of migrants with criminal histories and deportation orders.
All the while, the Trump administration closed access to the asylum system for migrants crossing illegally, ending the previous administration’s use of “catch and release.”
As a result, border agents saw the lowest levels of illegal crossings in recorded history last month, when roughly 8,000 migrants were caught entering illegally.
Some migrants have seen the writing on the wall, choosing to immediately turn back south, with authorities in Honduras reporting the movements.
“These individuals cited the heavy security posture along the U.S.-Mexico border and Mexico’s containment efforts as key reasons for reversing course,” Border Patrol Chief Michael Banks previously said of the migrant turnaround.