What is Donald Trump’s self-deportation app CBP Home? How to use? Who can use it? All you need to know

The Donald Trump administration has been strengthening its effort to control immigration to the US ever since the Republican leader took oath as President. Now, the US government has come up with a new app called the “CBP Home” to mitigate migration.

Here is everything you need to know about it

What is the CBP Home app?

The CBP Home App has been created by the US Department of Homeland Security. It is a system that allows people living illegally in the US to say they want to leave the country voluntarily and thereby self-deport themselves.

The CBP Home App is part of the administration’s campaign to encourage "self-deportations". It is being touted as an easy and cost-effective way to follow along Donald Trump’s agenda to deport millions of immigrants without legal status.

“The CBP Home app gives aliens the option to leave now and self-deport, so they may still have the opportunity to return legally in the future and live the American dream. If they don’t, we will find them, we will deport them, and they will never return,” Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem has said.

How to use CBP Home App?

The CBP Home App can be downloaded and used for free on mobile devices.

“Aliens (illegal immigrants) should use the CBP Home mobile phone application to submit their intent to depart,” the DHS said in a statement.

One can use the app to scroll to the ‘Submit Intent to Depart’ option and follow the necessary steps to self-deport.

Who can use it?

Immigrants who are not living in the US legally can use the app. Columbia University student Rajani Srinivasan became one of the first people to access the CBP Home App after her visa was revoked following accusations of her “advocating for violence and terrorism.”

CBP Home App: What did Donald Trump say?

On Thursday, President Donald Trump warned that those who fail to leave using this option will face forcible removal and a lifetime ban on re-entry.

“My administration is launching the CBP Home app to give people in our country illegally an easy way to leave now and self-deport voluntarily,” he said.

“If they do, they could potentially have the opportunity to return legally at some point in the future. But if they do not avail themselves of this opportunity, then they will be found, they will be deported, and they will never be admitted again to the United States ever, ever again. You're never coming in,” the President added.

He said that using the CBP Home app to leave the United States voluntarily is the “safest option for illegal aliens”.

Controversies

The CBP Hone App has been in the face of controversies ever since its launch. The Trump administration has retooled the CBP One App to make way for the CBP Home App.

The CBP One App, launched by the Biden administration, once used to let migrants apply for asylum.

More than 900,000 people were allowed in the country on immigration parole under CBP One, generally for two years, starting in January 2023.

Experts have voiced concerns on how many people without legal status would register for what has long been known as “voluntary departure,” or what the government hopes to gain from the new app.