[Software] 'A game of chance': Migrants battle glitchy app at US border

[Amaterasu イタチ]

 

The fate of tens of thousands of people seeking asylum at the United States' southern border will, from Friday, hinge on an app that has just 2.5 stars in the App Store.

For immigration managers, a sleek, computerized way to manage the wave of people expected to arrive when COVID-era rules lapse must have been tempting.

But for poor, exhausted people whose phones don't work, or who have no access to wifi or electricity, it's just another almost-impossible hurdle.

"It's amazing that an app practically decides our lives and our future," Jeremy de Pablos, a 21-year-old Venezuelan who has camped out in the Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez for weeks, told AFP.

De Pablos, who has dark skin, said the hardest part of using the CBP One app was the facial recognition—an issue that many migrants with darker complexions have pointed to.

"It's like a game of chance. It recognizes who it wants to."

President Joe Biden's administration launched the Custom and Border Protection app in January, as it eyed a way to manage the expected chaos when Title 42 expires overnight Thursday into Friday.

The measure was imposed under Donald Trump, with a stated purpose of keeping those infected with COVID-19 out of the country, allowing border guards to refuse entry to anyone.Migrants find the CBP One mobile app glitchy and prone to lock up with a weak cell phone signal.
In practice it has been a quick and easy way to avoid accepting asylum claims.

But with the ending of the COVID emergency, Title 42 is finished, replaced instead with regular migration policies that the Biden administration says will offer pathways to legitimate asylum seekers, and harsh penalties to those who do not follow the rules.

Old, outdated phones
From Friday would-be migrants must register their name, date of birth, details of their travel documents, and upload a photograph on CBP One. The app can also log their location and their device details.

But old, outdated phones make the process hard.

It's harder still for those whose phones were broken or stolen on the long trek north.

Antonio Sanchez Ventura lives on the streets of Ciudad Juarez with nothing, eating only what he can scrounge.

https://techxplore.com/news/2023-05-game-chance-migrants-glitchy-app.html