In a brewing legal battle, US sued over controversial immigration app

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
28 Jul 2023 08:39

The legal action has been filed in federal court amid accusations that the app blocked the migrants' attempts to seek asylum.

Images of mounted US Border Patrol agents attacking Haitian migrants in 2022 (AFP)

Immigration advocates have filed a lawsuit against the US government, arguing that the use of an app called CBP One to condition asylum requests violates migrants' human rights.

The lawsuit targets the app, which the advocates claim restricts access to the US asylum process and creates an electronic waitlist that favors privileged migrants. The legal action was filed in federal court in California by immigration organizations Al Otro Lado and the Haitian Bridge Alliance, along with ten migrants who assert that the app blocked their attempts to seek asylum.

"CBP One essentially creates an electronic waitlist that restricts access to the U.S. asylum process to a limited number of privileged migrants," noted the legal brief.

CBP One was launched by President Joe Biden's administration in January as part of the immigration policy changes during the Covid-19 pandemic. Migrants must use the app to schedule an appointment at a US port of entry, but the requirement for a smartphone, internet access, and electricity makes it difficult for many migrants on their arduous and perilous journeys.

The app has faced criticism from activists and migrants alike. Besides the challenges in accessing it, the legal action assured that the app's facial recognition technology discriminates against Black and darker-skinned immigrants, preventing them from obtaining appointments.

The lawsuit argued that forcing migrants to turn back at the border if they haven't made an appointment through the app puts them in greater danger.

The plaintiffs' legal representation, the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies, believed that this new turnback policy is a part of the US government's broader effort to limit asylum access at the southern border. They contend that the app-based approach violates the country's laws, undermines the asylum system, and leaves the most vulnerable refugees behind.

"The Biden administration’s new turnback policy is just the latest manifestation of the U.S. government’s multi-year effort to block access to asylum at the southern border," said Melissa Crow, Litigation Director for the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies, which is representing the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

"By gatekeeping asylum behind an inaccessible smartphone app, the turnback policy violates our laws, makes a mockery of our asylum system, and leaves the most marginalized refugees behind," she added.

This lawsuit is the latest challenge to President Biden's immigration policies, which seek to allegedly "develop" legal migration programs and alternatives. Last month, the US Supreme Court upheld the federal government's authority to decide which undocumented migrants should be targeted for deportation, despite challenges from the states of Texas and Louisiana.

Texas 'is suffering'

In November, Texas solicitor general Judd Stone claimed that prioritizing certain categories of persons for expulsion would bear costs on Texas, which borders Mexico and is an entry point for thousands of undocumented migrants.

"Texas suffers injuries, regardless of what it does, whether it detains, releases or paroles individuals because we have not only law enforcement costs but social services costs and very serious threats of recidivism," Stone said.

This follows as Republican governor of Texas Greg Abbott has been sending immigrants to Democratic-ruled states in buses for the past few months in a show of protest against the federal government's immigration policies.

The Biden administration and the Texas state government have been sending troops to the US-Mexico border in anticipation of a spike in illegal immigration after Title 42 ended in May, which permitted border crossers to request asylum.

In September, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that Republican governors sending migrants to northern cities, such as New York, Washington, and Chicago, use migrants as "political pawns".

"Republican governors interfering in that [US immigration] process and using migrants as political pawns is shameful, is reckless, and just plain wrong," Jean-Pierre said during a press briefing.