X proprietor Elon Musk shared along with his 200 million followers a video of a person who mentioned it took him 5 minutes and a faux photograph to make use of U.S. Customs and Border Safety’s CBP One app to be granted asylum within the U.S.
“Takes lower than 5 minutes and 0 documentation to get accredited as an unlawful immigrant and be flown to the USA with air tickets paid for by the American taxpayer,” Musk wrote in an Oct. 2 X submit that customers considered almost 20 million instances as of Oct. 4.
Musk reshared a video that originated on TikTok and was later shared by a number of verified X accounts. Mixed, the posts have greater than 42 million views.
The declare mischaracterizes how the CBP One app works. Signing up by way of the app doesn’t grant approval to enter the U.S. Some migrants use the app to make appointments for processing with immigration officers at official ports of entry alongside the southwest border; different migrants use it for prescreening when making use of for humanitarian parole. The app doesn’t present free flights to migrants.
Beneath immigration legislation, individuals who’ve been persecuted or worry persecution primarily based on their race, faith, nationality, political opinion or membership in a selected social group, can apply for asylum. To use, individuals have to be bodily within the U.S. whether or not they entered legally or not. Receiving asylum takes years.
What’s the CBP One app?
U.S. Customs and Border Safety launched the CBP One app in October 2020 in order that vacationers might use cell phones to entry the company’s features. For instance, vacationers might view entry and departure types and cargo carriers might schedule appointments for inspecting perishable gadgets, the Congressional Analysis Service reported.
The Biden administration expanded the app’s use in 2023 so individuals in Mexico who lacked a visa to enter the U.S., might use the app to make appointments with immigration officers for processing at official ports of entry. As of August 2024, 813,000 individuals had scheduled appointments utilizing the app.
The app is used just for scheduling and prescreening; it’s not an asylum or parole utility and doesn’t grant migrants U.S. entry. There are 1,450 appointments accessible each day. The individual within the TikTok video seems to have created a profile on the app however not secured an appointment. Appointments are scheduled 21 days prematurely, U.S. Customs and Border Safety mentioned.
On the appointments, migrants undergo processing, together with background checks and fingerprint evaluation, Customs and Border Safety informed PolitiFact. After that, immigration officers have the choice to grant humanitarian parole — an official permission to briefly stay and work within the U.S. legally.
Simply because the CBP app itself just isn’t an asylum utility, the appointments additionally will not be an asylum utility, and border officers don’t determine which individuals are granted asylum. That call is left to immigration judges or asylum officers, and infrequently takes years.
The app requires that customers submit a “selfie” photograph that’s used to confirm their identities. If an individual submits a photograph of another person — as the person within the TikTok video did — that may be thought-about fraud, Customs and Border Safety mentioned.
The app’s phrases and situations web page warns customers that offering intentional false info by way of the app might end in a tremendous or imprisonment, citing 18 U.S.C. Part 1001 within the U.S. Code.
Utilizing the app is the one method most individuals can entry asylum protections. In June 2024, the Biden administration created a coverage making most individuals ineligible for asylum in the event that they illegally crossed the U.S. border between official ports of entry.
CBP app doesn’t present free flights
Musk’s submit mentioned individuals utilizing the CBP One app will “be flown to the USA with air tickets paid for by the American taxpayer.” We now have beforehand checked a declare that immigrants had been in a position to make use of the app to get free flights to the US and rated it False.
In addition to asylum seekers, the CBP One app can also be utilized by individuals who have utilized by way of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Companies for a humanitarian parole program for individuals from Venezuela, Haiti, Cuba and Nicaragua to finish a prescreening course of earlier than arriving at a U.S. airport.
That program offers 30,000 individuals a month humanitarian parole, permitting them to legally enter the U.S. and stay and work right here for as much as two years. To qualify, individuals should apply from outdoors the U.S. and have a U.S. sponsor, reminiscent of a member of the family.
Neither the parole utility nor screening occurs on the CBP One app. Program individuals use the app to entry details about their instances, get journey authorization and full a journey prescreening to confirm their identities.
Folks getting into the U.S. as a part of the parole program should purchase their very own airplane tickets; the federal government doesn’t cowl the associated fee.
Our ruling
Musk mentioned the CBP One app lets somebody with “zero documentation get accredited as an unlawful immigrant and be flown to the USA with air tickets paid for by the American taxpayer.”
The CBP One app is used just for scheduling appointments and prescreening. It’s not an asylum or parole utility and doesn’t grant entry to migrants. It additionally doesn’t present them with free flights.
We charge the declare False.
