Texas sues Biden administration over CBP One app 

The state of Texas filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration on Tuesday over the smartphone application CBP One, which it claims is encouraging undocumented immigrants to come into the country. 

CBP One is a federally developed app meant to work as a portal for several Customs and Border Protection services to manage asylum seeker cases. Through the app, migrants can submit their information and asylum application for border officials to review, as well as schedule an appointment with an official up to 14 days in advance. 

The lawsuit focuses on the CBP One app but ultimately seeks to throw out the Biden administration’s new asylum rule implemented after the end of the pandemic-era policy Title 42. 

According to the law, called the Circumvention of Lawful Pathways, asylum seekers must first seek protection in a country they passed through on their way to the U.S. before applying for asylum or apply through the application and present themselves at the designated port of entry.  

According to the lawsuit that was filed in the Western District of Texas, the application encourages migrants that do not have proper documentation to avoid going through other countries and enter the country to make appointments and meet agents at ports of entry. 

Texas claims that people entering the country illegally should be expelled under federal law unless they lawfully apply for asylum because the application does not verify whether the migrants could potentially receive asylum before coming to the country. 

“The Biden Administration deliberately conceived of this phone app with the goal of illegally pre-approving more foreign aliens to enter the country and go where they please once they arrive,” said Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in a news release.

Additionally, migrants can present themselves at a port of entry and claim that they have “extenuating circumstances, significant technical failure, or other applicable exception” while using the application. 

Around 1,070 migrants have used the CBP One every day to schedule immigration appointments since May 11, reported The New York Post.