Abrupt end to border app that brought nearly 1 million to US strands many in Mexico
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They came from Haiti, Venezuela and around the world, pulling small rolling suitcases crammed with clothing and stuffed animals to occupy their children. They clutched cellphones showing that after months of waiting they had appointments — finally — to legally enter the United States.
Now outside a series of north Mexico border crossings where mazes of concrete barriers and thick fencing eventually spill into the United States, hope and excitement evaporated into despair and disbelief moments after President Donald Trump took office. U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced Monday that the CBP One app that worked as recently as that morning would no longer be used to admit migrants after facilitating entry for nearly 1 million people since January 2023.
Tens of thousands of appointments that were scheduled into February were canceled, applicants were told. That was it. There was no way to appeal, and no one to talk to. In Tijuana, where 400 people were admitted daily on the app at a border crossing with San Diego, Maria Mercado had to work up the courage to check her phone.
Tears ran down her cheeks after she finally looked. Her family’s appointment was for 1 p.m., a few hours too late. “We don’t know what we are going to do,” she said, standing with her family within view of the United States. She left Colombia decades ago after it was overrun by drug cartel violence, heading to Ecuador. When cartels besieged her new homeland, the family fled again, in June, this time to Mexico, hoping to reach the U.S.
