Immigration

Trump Admin Launches Self-Deportation App For Illegal Migrants

(CBP Photo by Jerry Glaser)

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Monday unveiled the CBP Home app, which includes a self-deportation feature for those living in the United States unlawfully.

The CBP Home app replaces the CBP One app, which was expanded under the Biden administration in order to allow migrants outside of the U.S. to apply en masse for asylum. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem called on illegal migrants to use the updated app and to leave the U.S. of their own volition — or else face deportation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and never be allowed to return to the U.S.

“The Biden Administration exploited the CBP One app to allow more than 1 million aliens to illegally enter the United States,” Noem said in a Monday press release. “With the launching of the CBP Home app, we are restoring integrity to our immigration system.”

“The CBP Home app gives aliens the option to leave now and self-deport, so they may still have the opportunity to return legally in the future and live the American dream,” Noem continued. “If they don’t, we will find them, we will deport them, and they will never return.”First created in October 2020 in regard to the inspection of cargo, the Biden administration significantly expanded the scope of the CBP One app in January 2023. Under this expansion, the app enabled asylum seekers to schedule appointments to obtain exemptions at ports of entry and permitted them to submit biometric data to federal immigration authorities in order to apply for travel authorization and obtain parole.

The app allowed for roughly 1,400 appointments a day along the southern border, a number that was far outpaced by the daily number of appointment requests. Over 900,000 foreign nationals successfully scheduled appointments through CBP One from January 2023 through the end of December 2024, according to Customs and Border Protection.

GOP critics of the app argued that the Biden administration was using it as a run-around to allow otherwise-inadmissible migrants into the country. President Donald Trump immediately nixed the app upon his return to office.

The Trump administration billed the revamped app as a win-win. Self-deportation, DHS argued, is the “safest” option for illegal migrants that forgoes them being arrested at large in the community and saves vital time and resources for federal immigration authorities.

The CBP Home app includes a feature that allows illegal migrants to “Submit Intent to Depart,” according to a screenshot provided by DHS. The link allows users to submit details on their intention to leave and also provide verification that they have left the U.S.

Self-deportation is not entirely unprecedented. Instead of remaining on the run, one homeless illegal migrant simply strolled into an ICE Detroit office in February and asked to be taken into custody. The illegal migrant allegedly told agents he would go on to commit crimes if he weren’t arrested.