“As president, I will immediately end the migrant invasion of America. We will stop all migrant flights, end all illegal entries, dismantle the Kamala Illegal Smuggling Phone App (CBP One App), revoke immunity from deportation, suspend refugee resettlement, and return Kamala illegal migrants to their countries of origin. origin (also known as remigration),” Trump wrote in a post to X on Sept. 15.

As president, I will immediately end the migrant invasion of America. We will stop all migrant flights, end all illegal entries, dismantle the Kamala Illegal Smuggling Phone App (CBP One App), revoke immunity from deportation, suspend refugee resettlement, and return Kamala…

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 15, 2024

But the campaign promises to get rid of the immigration features the Biden administration added US Customs and Border Protection The application could trigger an influx of illegal immigrants, or it could have the opposite effect and draw fewer people from outside the United States to the southern border, according to immigration policy analysts.

If Trump eliminates the application, immigrants from Mexico would be unable to apply for appointments and would instead choose to cross the border illegally. But disabling the application would also mean immigrants who are in their home countries could choose not to travel to the U.S. knowing that there is no chance of parole in most of them through the appointment process.

Eliminating the application could also cause more people to rush to the border in the short term in hopes of getting an appointment on the long waiting list, according to Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council in Washington.

“The Biden administration’s termination of alternative legal pathways could lead to an increase in border migration, although the exact impact is difficult to predict with certainty,” Reichlin-Melnick said in a message. “Ending the CBP One process at ports of entry may encourage some migrants to try their luck crossing illegally instead of waiting months in Mexico for a chance to enter legally.”

The Biden-Harris administration added two features to the app in early 2023 that allowed immigrants to apply for admission from outside the country or meet with a U.S. customs officer. The move was intended to give immigrants a way to seek admission without illegally crossing the southern border between ports of entry, but Republicans criticized it as a backdoor to admit hundreds of thousands of people into the country in less for two years.

The CBP One application allows immigrants from four countries, Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, to apply for entry into the U.S. on parole, which allows a person to stay for two years and receive a work permit. Recipients must have a US sponsor and pay for international commercial flight. Since the process was fully underway in January 2023, more than half a million people have been admitted.

The app’s feature of allowing immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to apply and fly into the country was part of a “carrot and stick deal with Mexico,” and in return, Mexico allowed the U.S. the ability to remove some citizens of those countries on the border back to Mexico.

“Ending the program could threaten that agreement by limiting the U.S.’s ability to address migration from countries like Venezuela, which limit deportation flights,” Reichlin-Melnick said.

The second function of the app is to allow immigrants from Mexico to schedule an appointment at a land port of entry on the southern border to meet with US customs officers. Up to 1,450 appointments can be scheduled daily – for a total of over 43,000 per month. Immigrants who make appointments wait months to be seen at one of the eight ports of entry used for appointments and are mostly admitted.

The Center for Immigration Studies takes a hard-line approach to immigration and views the CBP One application as exceeding the authority of the executive branch.

Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, called the CBP One app a “gateway” for immigrants to enter the country because it entices them to travel to Mexico, where they can then apply for an appointment.

Eric Ruark, director of research for the nonpartisan immigration organization NumbersUSA, said the Biden White House has not yet revealed whether it will try to increase the number of daily appointments more and more to bring more people into the country before Trump takes over the mandate.

“The Biden administration used parole and (temporary protected status) and the CBP One application to lure people into what they would say are legal avenues. They’re going to try to speed them up to get more people and then have a deal with the Trump administration with the headache of trying to reverse these things,” Ruark said. “I would anticipate that they will try to accelerate the intake of as many people as possible before January (2025).”

The Trump administration may already have a solution to deal with a potential influx of people who, frustrated appointments are no longer available, choose to come to the US between ports of entry.

Trump could restart the Migrant Protection Protocols, otherwise known as “Remain in Mexico,” which required immigrants seeking asylum to live south of the border while their cases wind up in immigration court.

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In addition, last June, President Joe Biden took executive action that greatly affected the ability of illegal immigrants arriving at the border to apply for asylum and imposed harsh consequences on immigrants who were arrested for illegally crossing the border without requested asylum.

If Trump were to uphold the Biden executive order, immigrants caught between ports of entry “would be automatically disqualified for asylum” and face a five-year ban on seeking asylum.