US asylum app strands migrants and aids organised crime, rights group says
by Thomas Graham in Mexico City from Technology | The Guardian on (#6MGPW)
CBP One app offers far too few appointments, meaning asylum seekers must wait or pay human trafficking groups, report reveals
A US government smartphone app that tightly limits asylum appointments at the US-Mexico border is stranding vulnerable migrants in Mexico and enriching organised crime groups, according to a new report from Human Rights Watch (HRW).
The report, which draws on interviews with more than 100 migrants, as well as officials and activists, documents how the CBP One app - which is all but mandatory for asylum seekers - offers 1,450 appointments a day, when arrivals at the border averaged 7,240 a day between May 2023 and January 2024.
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