Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) is attacking a mobile phone app for migrants created by the Department of Homeland Security as a “concierge service for illegal immigrants.”
Hawley repeated the allegation, first made during a Senate Judiciary hearing, in a letter to DHS head Alejandro Mayorkas Thursday.
“Under your leadership, the Department is marketing a new phone app, called CBP One, that allows unauthorized migrants to reserve a time to cross the border, like making a restaurant reservation. How convenient,” Hawley said in the letter.
The CBP One™ app was launched by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in 2020 and expanded in January 2023. According to CBP’s website, the aim is to “provide increased accessibility and transparency to some of CBP’s most utilized services,” like allowing migrants “to submit their traveler information in advance prior to their border crossing into the United States.”
During a contentious Senate Judiciary hearing Tuesday, Hawley first made the “concierge service” accusation to Mayorkas.
“They can schedule a time on their phone to come to the border, and then be admitted,” Hawley said. “And you identify seven separate border points of entry where they can come: five of them in Texas, two of them in California, one in Arizona. It’s like a concierge service for illegal immigrants.
“My question is, you didn’t think the border crisis was bad enough that now we’re going to have an app that allows illegals to schedule their appointments and come and be admitted to this country?” Hawley asked.
Mayorkas said Hawley had “mischaracterized the use of the application.”
“There is a process for individuals who claim an exception to the Title 42 expulsion authority because of an…urgent humanitarian reason,” Mayorkas said. “We allow a limited number to arrive at our points of entry to seek the emergency entry that they need.”
Title 42 allowed border patrol agents to deport migrants deemed to be a health risk. It’s scheduled to expire in May.
In his letter, Hawley pushed back on what Myorkas deemed was a “limited number” of migrants.
“You told me at the hearing that the app was available to a limited number of persons,” Hawley wrote. “But you also said ‘tens of thousands’ of migrants have used it. And your Department has pledged to “expan[d] access to the app in Central Mexico”—so even more migrants can schedule their border crossing,” he said. “That is far from limited.”
Hawley laid out several questions for Myorkas in the letter, including how many people have claimed “vulnerable” status, how much the app cost to develop, and whether the app could lead to national security risks.
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