As Trump began the biggest immigration crackdown in the US, his administration announced on Monday (March 10) that it has now reimagined the app as a platform for "self-deportation". 

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The app was originally created to facilitate asylum appointments for people at the southern border to apply for asylum in the US. 

The app, CBP Home, allows immigrants to submit an "intent to depart". The US Customs and Border Patrol said that it offers them a chance to leave without "harsher consequences". 

Also read: Trump's immigration crackdown: Mandatory online registry with names, fingerprints to track illegal immigrants

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Kristi Noem, the secretary of Homeland Security, announced that the app had been rebranded as “CBP Home” and people using the old CBP One would be redirected to the new version. 

“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,” Noem said. “If they don’t, we will find them, we will deport them, and they will never return.”

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said that the app’s “self-deportation functionality is part of a larger $200 million domestic and international ad campaign”

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Also read: ‘No taxpayer funds for illegal aliens’: Trump cuts off federal benefits for undocumented immigrants

The Department added that this way will encourage undocumented immigrants to "Stay Out and Leave Now". 

During the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump has long pressed the issue of mass deportations and illegal immigrants living in the US. 

On the day one of coming into power, Trump issued a directive abruptly ending the government’s use of CBP One. Moreover, his administration has already cancelled several legal pathways for immigrants to enter America, categorically banning asylum at the US borders. 

As the Trump administration cancelled the CBP One app, around 30,000 people waiting in Mexico with appointments scheduled with US immigration officials lost them and were left in limbo. 

Also read: ‘It was for freed slaves, not immigrants’: Trump defends birthright citizenship order amid legal pushback

Human rights group criticise new app

Human rights groups and immigration lawyers have been criticising the app, calling out racial biases in its facial recognition features and language issues. 

A report from Human Rights Watch (HRW) stated that forcing migrants to use the app and wait in Mexico for appointments with immigration officials had the effect of stranding vulnerable groups in Mexico and enriching organised crime groups.

Also read: Leave or be deported: Pakistan asks Afghan Citizen Card holders, illegal foreigners to leave by March 31

(With inputs from agencies)