The report indicated that users encountered language barriers and faced application crashes. The official app designed for illegal immigrants to schedule appointments with the agency at U.S. ports of entry has been plagued with technical issues and security vulnerabilities, according to the Homeland Security watchdog.
The report, published on Aug. 19 and sent to Congress, examined the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) phone appointment app known as CBP One. It highlighted that CBP did not adequately plan and implement the app to process migrants arriving at the southwest border seeking entry into the United States.
While CBP initially addressed weaknesses in the app after its launch, the agency failed to assess and mitigate the technological risks associated with expanding the application. This led to issues such as application crashes, error messages, language barriers, and unequal appointment distribution for noncitizens using the new feature.
The CBP One app, created in 2020 as a single portal for various CBP services, was expanded in January 2023 to allow immigrants to submit information and schedule appointments before arriving at ports of entry along the southwest border. This expansion was part of the administration’s efforts to provide legal pathways and discourage illegal border crossings.
Despite processing over 38,000 individuals with appointments at ports of entry through the app in July alone, the report raised concerns about security vulnerabilities and identified issues with pre-arrival vetting procedures. The OIG recommended that CBP develop a formalized risk assessment process for mobile applications, analyze app data for trends, and address security vulnerabilities in a timely manner.
CBP agreed with the recommendations and pledged to take corrective actions. The Epoch Times reached out to CBP for comment. Please provide a sentence or passage that you would like me to rewrite.
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