CBP (Customs and Border Protection) Home is an app designed for non-criminal undocumented immigrants to submit their intent to deport themselves and receive help in getting out of the country. Qualified groups include categorical parolees whose legal presence already, or is about to, expire, and people whose temporary protected status has been terminated.
Upon opening the app, a smiling couple holding hands with their child is displayed, above the words “Getting you home quickly and easily.” Through this government-created app, the United States promises to help pay for one-way departing flights, provide immigrants with a $1,000 bonus, and forgive any failure-to-depart fines. However, this system warrants safety concerns for undocumented immigrants and should be treated with caution.
When using the app, users select their preferred language and are then directed to a screen with two buttons: “I’m ready to leave the US,” or “Verifying I left the US.” Users wishing to self deport should pick the former. Users then fill in personal information: name, date of birth, country of citizenship, email address, phone number, and a photo of themselves. Providing this information may seem relatively simple, but the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) cautions against this process because the information put into the app goes straight to U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which is alarming with Trump’s current crackdown on immigration.
After entering this initial information, some undocumented immigrants could receive an email telling them to submit Form G-325 R, an extensive form that asks for more personal information, including previous addresses from the last five years, activities engaged in since being in the US, police and criminal records, etc. According to the NILC, governmental officials have stated that they use this information to arrest or deport people, or pressure them to leave the US. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said that people who submit their intent to depart through CBP Home will be deprioritized “by ICE for detention or enforcement action before their scheduled departure” compared to other undocumented immigrants. But, CBP Home users can still be detained, and filling out this form gives the government additional information that ICE could use to arrest users.
The risks for using the CBP Home app don’t always reap rewards for the people who decide to take them. ProPublica interviewed more than a dozen Venezuelans who were given departure dates that came and went without receiving tickets. They primarily spoke to Venezuelans because of the current political tension between the US and Venezuela. One such Venezuelan family registered for the app after losing their work permits and jobs. The parents, identified as Emily and Deybis, received a call a couple weeks later from a DHS operator, who gave them a departure date, so they packed up everything, sold their car and awaited the departure time while living in a family member’s basement. But, the plane tickets never came and the family eventually got an email from CBP telling them they would have to gather all the travel documents on their own, completely defeating the purpose of the app and the promises that it gives. This information would have been helpful before the family placed their trust into the app and packed up their entire lives.
The CBP representative had also told Emily and Deybis that not having passports wouldn’t be a problem, but the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) says that people without passports may not qualify to use CBP Home, or it could take longer to hear from a representative. This wait time can be detrimental to people like Emily and Deybis who can’t afford plane tickets and were left in poverty after quitting their jobs and making the move.
As of October 10, data obtained by Propublica states that “some 25,000” immigrants have left the US using CBP Home but only about half of those people used DHS assistance to leave and get home.
Since there isn’t guaranteed assistance, and using the app provides more information to ICE, using CBP Home may not be worth it to many undocumented immigrants. Ultimately, the government needs to come up with a better system that gives undocumented immigrants more security and assistance when attempting to leave the country.
