The Department of Homeland Security has revoked the legal status of some individuals who were allowed to enter the United States using a phone application set up under the previous administration.
Some of the more than 900,000 people who were let into the country with the CBP One app have been notified that their legal status has been revoked, a move that officials said was made at the direction of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
“The Biden Administration abused the parole authority to allow millions of illegal aliens into the U.S. which further fueled the worst border crisis in U.S. history,“ a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told The Epoch Times in an email. ”Under federal law, Secretary Noem—in support of the President—has full authority to revoke parole. Canceling these paroles is a promise kept to the American people to secure our borders and protect national security.”
The law states in part that the secretary of homeland security may parole applicants, or let them in with temporary legal status, “on a case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit.”
The law also states, “When the purposes of such parole shall, in the opinion of the Secretary of Homeland Security, have been served the alien shall forthwith return or be returned to the custody from which he was paroled and thereafter his case shall continue to be dealt with in the same manner as that of any other applicant for admission to the United States.”
“Formal termination notices have been issued, and affected aliens are urged to voluntarily self-deport using the CBP Home App,” the DHS spokesperson said, using the new name for the app. “Those who refuse will be found, removed, and permanently barred from reentry.”
DHS said in a post on social media platform X that those who do not remove themselves will face escalating fines.
It’s not clear exactly how many of these parolees received notices. DHS said in late 2024 that more than 936,500 people had been granted entry through CBP One. The most common nationalities of the entrants were Venezuelan, Cuban, and Mexican.
Officials under President Joe Biden said the app presented a safe way for those who would otherwise enter the country illegally to meet with immigration officials and, if cleared, be able to enter the United States.
Critics such as Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.) said the app enabled the administration to let in people who should not be granted entry.
The DHS Office of Inspector General said in 2024 that the app admission process suffered from issues, including an inability to check each photograph submitted by applicants.
Customs and Border Protection halted the scheduling of appointments through the app on Jan. 20, the day on which Trump was sworn in for his second term. The president had described the service as a “phone app for smuggling illegals.”
