CBP One app faces lawsuit from rights organizations

The U.S. government’s policy of requiring asylum seekers to book an appointment through the CBP One biometric smartphone app is facing a court challenge from two immigrants’ rights groups.

The Associated Press reports that Al Otro Lado and the Haitian Bridge Alliance, along with ten individuals from countries including Mexico, Haiti, Nicaragua and Russia, on Friday filed a class action lawsuit against the Biden administration arguing that the app cuts off access for a wide swath of migrants and asylum seekers.

Under the current policy those who do not have an appointment are turned away and restricted from further pursuit of the U.S. asylum process. A federal court recently blocked the practice after ruling it to be illegal, but delayed their ruling from taking effect for 14 days.

Meanwhile, border agents continue to unlawfully tell asylum seekers, “there’s an app for that.”

“CBP One essentially creates an electronic waitlist that restricts access to the U.S. asylum process to a limited number of privileged migrants,” say the litigants in the lawsuit, who are represented by the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, the American Immigration Council (AIC), the Center for Constitutional Rights, and lawyers Mayer Brown LLP. The suit contends that many migrants and asylum seekers have difficulties accessing an internet connection, and that those who can have trouble navigating the app in a foreign language.

A press release from AIC says that “even in the best of circumstances, CBP One is notoriously glitchy, and its discriminatory facial recognition technology has prevented many darker-skinned and Black migrants from obtaining an appointment.” It claims some asylum seekers have spent months trying to secure a booking through the app, suffering in violent and unstable border encampments while they wait.

“This lawsuit argues that the government’s policy of turning back asylum seekers who do not have a CBP One appointment violates U.S. law, the government’s own guidance, asylum seekers’ due process rights, and the United States’ obligations under international law, which prohibit the government from returning refugees to countries where they face persecution or torture,” it says.

Illegal process works to limit immigration, but lawsuits dog progress

For the Biden administration, the limitation on asylum imposed by the biometric requirements is a double-edged sword. One the one hand, the system has been decreed as unlawful, and thus adds to the larger legal tangle the government faces over immigration policy. On the other hand, it has proved effective. A recent update from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) showed “a significant and continuing decline in migrant encounters along the Southwest border.” According to a report from NPR, the number of migrants crossing into the U.S. from Mexico illegally is lower than it has been since early 2021.

But while the government says they are merely trying to implement safe and orderly pathways to asylum in the wake of the Trump administration’s rigid policies, frustrated rights groups see a tool that dissuades people from claiming a legal right.

Nicole Elizabeth Ramos, the director of Al Otro Lado’s border rights team, said in a release, “I find it difficult to explain to asylum seekers and our staff, many of whom have been impacted by illegal U.S. border policies themselves, how despite the fact that a federal court ruled almost two years ago that turning asylum seekers away from U.S. ports of entry is illegal, we must re-litigate this issue today.”

A report from the International Rescue Committee, a refugee and humanitarian aid organization, put it bluntly: “Hinging access to seek and enjoy asylum on whether people fleeing for their lives can book an appointment on a smartphone app is neither right nor practical.” A biometric asylum app, it says, “should never be the only means to effectively request protection at a U.S. port of entry.”

Furthermore, the app presents significant risk for privacy violations. In a May policy briefing, Erika Guevara-Rosas of Amnesty International said that “asylum-seekers are forced to install the application on their mobile devices, which enables U.S. Customs and Border Protection to collect data about their location by ‘pinging’ their phones.”

“The U.S. must ensure that asylum-seekers have due process rights regarding refugee status determination procedures,” she said, “and that they are not returned to places where they may be at risk of harm.”

Article Topics

biometrics  |  border security  |  CBP  |  CBP One  |  DHS  |  facial recognition  |  mobile app