200 migrants whose CBP One appointments were axed refuse to leave US-Mexico border: ‘We’ve been waiting 11 months’Jack Morphet, Alex Oliveira January 21, 2025 at 7:13 AM
TIJUANA, Mexico — About 200 migrants who had their CBP One immigration appointments canceled when President Trump was sworn into office are refusing to leave the San Ysidro border checkpoint until they are seen.
“We had an appointment for tomorrow at 1 p.m.,” said Erica Ramirez, 50, who traveled from southern Mexico with her 24-year-old son, his wife, and their young children in the hopes of escaping rampant crime in their hometown.
“We have been waiting for the appointment for 11 months,” she told The Post Monday. “We will keep waiting here until we get an appointment.”
Ramirez and her family are among scores of asylum seekers who had their long-awaited immigration appointments canceled at noon when Trump took office and immediately halted the use of CBP One — a Customs and Border Protection agency app that the Biden administration used to allow about 900,000 migrants to flow into the country during the last two years of President Joe Biden’s term. Legal crossers line up en masse in Tijuana, Mexico, at the San Ysidro crossing.
The app allowed more than 1,400 people daily to schedule appointments with immigration officials at US ports of entry, and then make their way into the States — meaning about 43,000 migrants per month were being given chances to enter the country through CBP One since it was introduced in January 2023.
Trump shut it down as one of several sweeping Day 1 acts to address the border crisis, which he declared a national emergency during his inaugural address.
A young Cuban couple at the San Ysidro border checkpoint had an appointment at 1 p.m. — just an hour after the app scrapped all appointments as Trump took power. Luis Miguel Alvarez, 22, and Adriana Lopez, 20, had relocated to Mexico City after being persecuted by Cuba’s government, they said. The pair had been waiting to secure a CBP One appointment since they made the move in November 2023 and on Jan. 2 were finally given a time and date — for one hour into Trump’s second term as president.
About 200 migrants who had their CBP One immigration appointments canceled when President Trump was sworn into office are refusing to leave the San Ysidro border checkpoint until they are seen
Trump took office and immediately halted the use of CBP One — a Customs and Border Protection agency app the Biden administration used to allow about 900,000 migrants to flow into the country during the last two years of President Joe Biden’s term.“We found out our appointment was canceled at 9 a.m. this morning,” Alvarez told The Post. “I am devastated that our appointment was canceled but we still have hope.”The pair had intended to claim political asylum.
In Cuba, Lopez was studying robotic engineering and Alvarez was studying nuclear engineering but was allegedly kicked out of his courses for his political beliefs. He said they couldn’t go back as Cuban police harassed them and that Mexico, their current home, was dangerous.
“We understand that the new president wants to defend his country and its borders but we are not criminals,” Alvarez said. “We want to study, work and be of help to the United States.”
Some migrants were filmed weeping on the Mexican side of the border after they saw that their long-awaited appointments had been canceled with the app’s closure. Others, like Ramirez, are refusing to leave until they get the appointment they were long promised.
Migrants attempting to cross into the United States in Tijuana via a Customs and Border Patrol appointment are seen at the US-Mexico border after finding out that their appointments have been canceled on the day Donald Trump was inaugurated.
She planned to spend the night at the border checkpoint with her son, daughter-in-law, and their 1-year-old and 4-month-old daughters. “We will sleep on this very site,” she said. “The state where I am from, Guerrero, is very, very dangerous. There is a lot of violence.” “My son is a builder and I am a cleaner,” she said.“We are going to America for a better life, fleeing from crime and the fear we have in our own country.”
Alvarez and Lopez were similarly holding out hope for an appointment, adding that sneaking across the border was never in the cards for them.
“It is not an option to break the law. We want to enter America the right way, which is why we have been waiting since 2023,” Alvarez said.
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