The odyssey of the thousands of migrants who depend on a mobile application to realize the American dream

Stories vary, with many migrants having to overcome grueling journeys to reach the US border, where getting out alive is an achievement.

Their phones get stolen or they lose them when they get wet in the rivers they cross. Others keep their cell phones, but outdated or battered.

The United States recalled that it will continue to deport migrants who try to enter without using “legal channels”, when tonight the so-called Title 42, a rule activated during the pandemic to supposedly stop covid-19, but used in practice expires nearly 2.8 million times to expel migrants by preventing them from applying for asylum.

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Everyone must use app

Seeking asylum in the United States will largely depend on the use of an application starting this Friday. But the technological alternative seems detached from the dramatic reality at the border, where phones, Wi-Fi and electricity are a luxury.

The CBP One application, from the Office of Customs and Border Protection (CBP, for its acronym in English) was designed to channel asylum applications to the United States, but Mexico’s migrants are crying with frustration over the failures of the evaluated tool by Apple Store users with 2.5 stars.

“It is something unusual that an application practically decides our lives and our future,” Jeremy de Pablos, a 21-year-old Venezuelan who has been camping in Ciudad Juárez for weeks, told AFP.

De Pablos said facial recognition was the hardest part: “It’s bingo, you recognize who you want.”

“The application is actually the wall, not that one,” he added, pointing to the towering wall that snakes along the US-Mexico border.

Joe Biden’s administration launched CBP One in January before the imminent end of Title 42, the health regime activated under former President Donald Trump’s administration to stop the Covid-19 pandemic.

Title 42, which expires at midnight next Thursday, allowed the deportation of those who crossed the border without a visa or documentation needed to enter, but set exceptions.

Since its activation in 2020, nearly 3 million asylum seekers have been deported, mostly to Mexico, where makeshift camps have been set up.

Evictions increased

The United States will activate new rules to apply for asylum this Friday that place CBP One as the first step in the process, under penalty of deportation for anyone who steps on US soil without an appointment in the application.

The authorities have expanded the daily quota, as well as the hours to register in CBP One, but it remains a restrictive tool.

Carlos Reyes cherished the American dream after he turned himself in to US agents asking for shelter. But five days later, in which he complains of being treated like a “murderer”, he was deported to Mexico.

A 32-year-old Venezuelan, Reyes and his childhood friend Carlos Villafranca crossed the Rio Grande from Ciudad Juárez in Mexico along with hundreds of migrants who wanted to entrust themselves to border patrols before seeking protection from the United States.

Everything seemed to go well. They waited a week on the other side of the river, the natural border, in a kind of limbo between a barbed wire fence that points to Mexico and a tall, sophisticated fence that leads to the United States.

Eventually, some officers approached them, and after handcuffing them, took them to a shelter in El Paso, Texas. Villafranca assures that he was “happy” as he believed his refugee request would be heard. However, after five days in prison, he was returned to Mexican territory in Ciudad Juárez.

Antonio Sánchez Ventura arrived in Ciudad Juárez with his brother fleeing violence in his country and says they stole everything along the way. He lives on the street and eats on donations. His sole purpose is to raise money to buy a phone and download CBP One.

“It is the American dream of every human being to enter the United States to help our relatives,” he said.

Migrants waiting in Ciudad Juárez live in tents, without electricity. They charge their phones on poles tangled with cables.

They prioritize any currency they have to buy balance and have internet. But that’s where the second part of the challenge begins.

“Look, it’s stuck,” says Ronald Huerta, a Venezuelan who couldn’t get past the language settings of the application this Wednesday.

A few feet away, Ana Paola, 14, was crying inconsolably as the application had been updated and all information about her and her family had been removed.

“I’m tired! I can’t take it anymore!” the teen stammered as she clicked “Submit” incessantly to recreate the family profiles, receiving an “Error 500” message as an immutable response.

“It’s been a big nightmare, it’s been agony. This request has caused us emotional and psychological damage,” said his father, Juan Pavón, a merchant who fled Venezuela with his family.

All they had was an old iPhone, which his wife used for weeks to make an appointment for the family group at CBP 1. Once she got a confirmation, it was just for her.

The family is now separated on both sides of the border.

and if the end of title 42 is nearfear is mounting, with many losing their temper and entering the United States illegally.

“I waited and waited and waited, but I got fed up. There was no way to get an appointment,” said Luis Quintana, a Venezuelan who lived on the streets of neighboring Ciudad Juárez in El Paso, Texas, for three months. , until, frustrated, decided to poke through a hole in the wall.

“It is frustrating that this important part of the process is left to technology that often fails and is not accessible to everyone,” said Raúl Pinto, senior attorney at the American Immigration Council.

Washington announced this week that the application will evolve into a virtual system with greater capacity.

Straight to Washington

As frustration rages among these migrants, at least 17,000 migrants have been sent to Washington, Chicago, New York and Philadelphia, all Democratic-run cities, as part of the Republican immigration pressure campaign that began last year.

From the White House, Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) Alejandro Mayorkas criticized Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s move to send migrants to other states on Thursday.

That same Thursday, about thirty migrants sent from Texas arrived at the Washington residence of United States Vice President Kamala Harris.

According to local media, men, minors and women – most from Venezuela – were taken care of by volunteers from the organization SAMU First, who offered them temporary shelter and guidance in the steps to follow.