CIUDAD JUÁREZ, Mexico — David Melgar and his wife stand at the top of the Paso del Norte International Bridge. The chilly wind blows on the face of their 8-year-old son, who sits in between them on the cold pavement.
It’s 5:30 a.m. on a Monday in early December. It’s still dark, and the temperature feels like 40 degrees.
“We’ve been here since 3 a.m.,” Melgar, 28, says in Spanish. There are a handful of people in front of him in line. Behind him, nearly two hundred people are waiting.
The family fled Honduras, their home country, about two months ago after being extorted for money. They’ve been in Mexico since. And every day they’ve been trying to get an appointment with U.S. Customs and Border Protection using the CBP One app. This is their best and safest way to petition for asylum, they say.
“I’m excited because it’s a great opportunity for me and for my son, because [the U.S.] is a country where education is better,” he says.
Since January 2023, the CBP One app has provided nearly 900,000 people with appointments to show up at ports of entry, get screened, and petition for asylum, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Although having an appointment does not grant migrants legal status in the country, it does allow them to apply for a work permit while they wait for an asylum hearing.
Melgar says he and his wife want to work in the U.S., provide for his son, and settle down in their “new world.”
Nearly 10 hours later, Melgar and his family were allowed into El Paso, Texas — their first time in the U.S. He called his mom, before getting on a bus headed to New York to meet their loved ones.
Melgar says he’s lucky to have secured one of the 1,450 daily appointments along the Southern border. His wait time was less than what many other migrants have waited. Migrants in Mexico have told NPR they’ve waited over eight months to secure an appointment.
The beginning of the end?
When the Biden administration rolled out the app in January 2023, it said it was intended to “reduce wait times and crowds at U.S. ports of entry and allow for safe, orderly, and humane processing.”
But come January, the CBP One app might not be available.
President-elect Donald Trump vowed in September to get rid of the app, which he falsely claims is used to smuggle migrants into the U.S.
In a statement to NPR, Trump-Vance Transition spokesperson Karoline Leavitt didn’t answer questions about the future of the app. Instead, she reiterated the pledges the Republican made during his campaign, including securing the border and deporting “criminals and terrorists that make our communities less safe.”
Zoila Velasco Cañas, 58, has been waiting for an appointment at a shelter in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico for 10 months. She even considered crossing the border illegally, until she secured one of the slots in early December.
“I’m happy!” Velasco, who is from El Salvador, says. “I got the appointment, and now I’ll leave!”
Her parents and a daughter are all U.S. citizens. She says she’s been praying they will be reunited one day.
But for Ricardo Bravo and Bárbara Mendoza, Trump’s threat to end the app is putting them on edge.
They’ve been staying at the same shelter as Velasco.
The Venezuelan couple has been trying to get an appointment since June, after registering multiple times on the CBP One app.
“Our plan was to cross the border and surrender when she was pregnant,” Bravo says in Spanish while standing in the courtyard of the Ciudad Juárez shelter.
As they were traveling through Mexico with their six-year-old son, Mendoza went into labor. Their daughter is now a month old.
That stopped them from attempting to cross the border illegally. Now, they try to secure an appointment through the app every day.
But they are losing their patience.
“I’m thinking we should cross the border and surrender,” Bravo says. “It’ll depend on what Trump says in January.”
Transcript:
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has an app. It’s called CBP One. And since January of last year, it has facilitated appointments for almost 900,000 migrants to show up at ports of entry, get screened and petition for asylum. But President-elect Donald Trump has said that he will end CBP One, and migrants are worried. NPR’s Sergio Martínez-Beltrán reports.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Speaking Spanish).
SERGIO MARTÍNEZ-BELTRÁN, BYLINE: It’s about 5:30 a.m. at the top of the Paso del Norte International Bridge, one of the ports of entry connecting Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, with El Paso, Texas. On the pedestrian line, about 200 people await, hoping to enter the U.S. for the first time. Parents cover their little kids’ faces as the cold wind blows. They shiver. It’s about 40 degrees.
DAVID MELGAR: (Speaking Spanish).
MARTÍNEZ-BELTRÁN: Twenty-eight-year-old David Melgar has been in line since 3 a.m. He’s here with his wife and his 8-year-old son. They’re all bundled up with scarves and gloves. For the last two months, this Honduran family has been trying to get an appointment with U.S. Customs and Border Protection using the CBP One app.
MELGAR: (Speaking Spanish).
MARTÍNEZ-BELTRÁN: He’s emotional. He says he’s lucky to have secured one of the 1,450 daily appointments along the southern border today. He says being allowed into the U.S. is a great opportunity for him and his school-age son. Although having an appointment does not grant migrants legal status in the country, it does allow them to apply for a work permit while they wait for an asylum hearing.
MELGAR: (Speaking Spanish).
MARTÍNEZ-BELTRÁN: Hours after our conversation, the family was headed to New York, where they planned to stay in the meantime. It took about half a day for them to be screened and allowed into the country with their CBP One appointment. But come January, this system might not be available. President-elect Donald Trump vowed in September to get rid of the CBP One app, which he falsely claims is used to smuggle migrants into the U.S. In a statement to NPR, his transition team reiterated the pledges he made during the campaign but didn’t answer questions about the future of the CBP One app. These threats have Ricardo Bravo and Barbara Mendoza on edge.
(Speaking Spanish).
BARBARA MENDOZA: (Speaking Spanish).
RICARDO BRAVO: (Speaking Spanish).
MARTÍNEZ-BELTRÁN: (Speaking Spanish).
BRAVO: (Speaking Spanish).
MENDOZA: (Speaking Spanish).
BRAVO: (Speaking Spanish).
MENDOZA: (Speaking Spanish).
MARTÍNEZ-BELTRÁN: They say they’ve been trying to secure an appointment since June while staying at a shelter in Ciudad Juarez. They come from Venezuela with their 6-year-old son, Matias, and their 1-month-old daughter, Sahira. The family fled their country due to extortions.
MENDOZA: (Speaking Spanish).
BRAVO: (Speaking Spanish).
MENDOZA: (Speaking Spanish).
BRAVO: (Speaking Spanish).
MARTÍNEZ-BELTRÁN: (Speaking Spanish).
BRAVO: (Speaking Spanish).
MARTÍNEZ-BELTRÁN: The couple had hoped to cross the border and give birth in the U.S., but Mendoza went into labor while at a shelter in Ciudad, Juarez. Now they’re staying put, waiting for confirmation of an appointment. That’s exactly what the Biden White House wanted when it rolled out the app in January 2023. The administration said that it was intended to, quote, “reduce wait times and crowds at U.S. ports of entry and allow for safe, orderly and humane processing.” But the Venezuelan family is impatient.
BRAVO: (Speaking Spanish).
MARTÍNEZ-BELTRÁN: Bravo says they don’t know what to do. If Trump ends the program, he says, the family might try to cross the border illegally and surrender themselves to authorities. But that could be dangerous, so the family is praying to get a CBP One appointment before January 20, the day Trump will be inaugurated. Sergio Martínez-Beltrán, NPR News, Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
(SOUNDBITE OF LOST GIRL SONG, “TRUST ISSUES”)