Ronald, 21, woke up early, brushed his teeth and made sure his phones were ready for the intense minutes around 8 a.m. of tapping and refreshing that had become the norm for migrants across the city. That's because of a smartphone app called CBP One that launched in January as a way to schedule appointments to request asylum at ports of entry.
But as the moment to begin the daily ritual of toggling screens approached, Ronald's phones kicked him out of the application. Loops of error messages blocked him from getting back in. Others around him began to experience the same behavior. He and other asylum seekers interviewed are not being fully identified because of their vulnerable situations.
The app, which has been roundly criticized by human rights groups, went through a major update Thursday in conjunction with the end of Title 42 — a border policy that for the past three years has blocked asylum seekers from approaching ports of entry to request protection and empowered border officials to skip asylum screenings and expel those who cross without permission. The public health orders related to the pandemic that put the policy in place expired Thursday night.
"We knew something would change today. We thought it would make things better, but it's worse," Ronald said in Spanish. "We can't even get in. It's so frustrating."
Customs and Border Protection did not respond to requests for comment.
The app is a centerpiece of the Biden administration's new border policy that is rolling out this week. But if Thursday is a hint of what is to come, following the policies will continue to challenge people trying to flee for their lives.
When CBP One launched in January, it was used for asylum seekers to request exemptions to Title 42 and enter ports of entry through scheduled appointments. It replaced an exemption system in which shelters and nonprofits identified vulnerable individuals to CBP for appointments. That system had grown corrupt, with some asylum seekers paying as much as $2,000 for spots on the list.
The Biden administration said that CBP One would democratize the process, allowing asylum seekers in northern Mexico to request appointments without someone in the middle selecting who would get in. But the app has already had its share of problems, including confusing error messages, performance problems with the number of asylum seekers logged in at the same time and logistics that prioritize asylum seekers who have the resources to have newer phones and strong internet connections.
The Department of Homeland Security has maintained that the app is working.
"We have seen a tremendous acceptance of the CBP One app," said DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. "It has proven successful. We have identified glitches, and we've done so not unilaterally, exclusively, but also by speaking with individuals who have used the app, by speaking with migrants here in the United States who have reached the United States, as well as actually going into Mexico and meeting with migrants to understand the challenges.
"The greatest challenge with respect to the CBP One app is not a technological challenge but rather the fact that we have many more migrants than we have the capacity to make appointments for," he added.
With new rules going into effect Friday, the app will be an even more crucial part of requesting asylum than it was before. The rules will make those who try to cross onto U.S. soil without an appointment either at or between ports of entry generally ineligible for asylum.
There are a few ways to request exemptions to needing to use the app, but attorneys and human rights workers are worried that people will be left out.
Nicole Ramos, director of Al Otro Lado's Border Rights Project, called CBP One an "unmitigated disaster."
She said her organization has made requests to CBP to process certain asylum seekers outside of the app because they are unable to use phones to get an appointment or their circumstances do not allow for them to wait the time required to get one.
She gave the example of a woman who had fled a domestic violence situation in Mexico. The woman was placed in a secret shelter for victims where only those whose risks are particularly high can get placed. The woman had to leave her phone behind to flee from her abuser, and the shelter doesn't allow phones for safety reasons. She is not allowed to leave the confidential location without a safety escort, Ramos said.
"I do not even know the location of this place. I'm not allowed to know," Ramos said. "Her abuser has since threatened family members that have had to relocate — with weapons trying to find her. And CBP's response to that was, 'She needs to use CBP One.'"
Ramos said people looking to make a profit have also used CBP One by taking up appointments and then selling them to asylum seekers. Once the asylum seeker pays, the scammer cancels the appointment, and the asylum seeker quickly goes in to claim the open slot.
On Wednesday afternoon, CBP announced an update to the app that would change the way the scheduling system works. Instead of fighting for an appointment at the same time every morning, asylum seekers would be able to register with the app and then get notified when an appointment became available for them with roughly a day to confirm or cancel.
"Allowing noncitizens a longer window of time to ask for and to confirm their appointment will reduce time pressure and dependency on internet speed and connectivity," CBP said in a statement announcing the change.
The agency is adding about 260 additional appointments along the border, bringing the total to 1,000 among the participating ports of entry.
"A percentage of daily available appointments will be allocated to the earliest registered CBP One profiles, so noncitizens who have been trying to obtain appointments for the longest time will be prioritized," the agency said.
For a mother and her two daughters who had been waiting at the Templo Embajadores de Jesus shelter for about eight months, the change was the miracle they'd been waiting for. They finally received an appointment on Thursday.
"It hasn't been easy because the app has had a lot of errors, but God surprised me now with this blessing," the woman said.
She was among several at the shelter — which, according to Pastor Gustavo Banda Aceves is currently home to more than 1,600 people — to finally book appointments.
But for a Honduran woman staying at the same shelter who has been waiting more than six months, the app did the same as what many experienced at the Espacio Migrante shelter.
"I think you have to have luck to get an appointment," said the woman, who has her 12-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son with her. "I ask God why this is happening to me."
Ronald is also trying for an appointment for three. His cousin and her daughter fled Venezuela with him. He said he'd been persecuted there because of his sexual orientation.
"I don't want to be here. I want to be at peace in my country, but I can't," Ronald said. "I left my family, my friends, my studies — everything — because I can't be free there."
Only three people at the Espacio Migrante shelter managed on Thursday to see the new screen that instructed them to wait for an appointment to become available. Everyone else followed the path that Ronald cycled through over and over, hoping for a different outcome.
When he tried to log back in, the app said it needed to update. When he navigated to the app store to update it, the app said it was already updated. When he opened the app again, it threw an error. Occasionally, it let him enter his email, password and a one-time code that was messaged to him. The app would spin for a few moments on the CBP logo, and then he would find himself back at the log-in page again.
"It's failing," said a Haitian man, experiencing the same issue. Eventually he gave up to eat breakfast.
Ronald missed breakfast with the rest of the shelter, sitting by the window, tapping the same error messages. Finally, still clutching and tapping his phone, he got up to stand in the kitchen and eat while he tried to get CBP One to work.
When asked how long he would keep trying, he said, "Until it lets me log back in."
© 2023 The San Diego Union-Tribune. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
