(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) The Biden administration, through the Department of Homeland Security, has unveiled a controversial plan to admit nearly 40,000 asylum-seekers each month through a smartphone app.
The DHS formally opened the southern border to an unprecedented number of illegal immigrants earlier this month. These immigrants will now be required to schedule appointments through a taxpayer-funded app called CBP One, according to CBS News.
Erin Heeter, a spokesperson for DHS, told the Epoch Times that CBP One increased the daily appointment capacity from 1,000 to 1,250, resulting in a total of nearly 40,000 applications. However, the Times cautioned that the actual number of asylum seekers could be even higher since DHS has not provided specific details about whether the appointments include families or married couples.
The Biden admin's use of the CBP One app is a deceptive attempt to make the chaos at the border appear more orderly. Secretary Mayorkas is able to hide the true number of illegal entries & make many otherwise illegal alien entries appear lawful. pic.twitter.com/WjJ5uYAEHG
— House Homeland GOP (@HomelandGOP) June 6, 2023
Under the previous CBP system, the Biden administration processed only 20,000 asylum-seekers per month. This move was seen as an effort by President Joe Biden to ease the chaotic influx of illegal border crossings caused his open border policies.
Heeter supported the increase in applications, stating, “This expansion of lawful pathways and opportunities, including CBP One appointments, is part of the Biden administration’s ongoing commitment to provide access to the United States through legal means.”
The newly developed program allegedly aimed to undercut smugglers, who abuse illegal migrants, including asylum seekers, through their border crossings. It also provides a “humane process for noncitizens to access ports of entry instead of attempting to enter the United States unlawfully,” according to Heeter.
This program primarily focuses on illegal immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela, as well as their immediate family members. However, it has faced intense criticism from House Republicans, who argue that Biden has made it easier for illegal aliens to enter the U.S.
Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., who chairs the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border Security and Enforcement, torched the Biden administration’s use of the CBP One app, calling it “misleading by design.” The app, the lawmaker argued, undercount the real number of border crossings.
.@RepMTG demonstrates how easy it is for illegal aliens to claim asylum through the CBP One app, which the Biden admin is using to quickly process up to 40K migrants into the U.S. every month. pic.twitter.com/K7thtqwEi7
— House Homeland GOP (@HomelandGOP) June 6, 2023
Mirroring the mobilization of the app, the Biden administration used tax dollars last year to gift more than 300,00 smart phones to illegal aliens, as part of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s “Alternatives to Detention” program, in a floundering effort to track them.
John Feere, former senior adviser for the Department of Homeland Security, called Biden’s tracking devices a “costly failure,” highlighting that the illegal aliens who received these devices have tossed them and remained in the country unlawfully.