Laredo port reopens to CBP One app asylum appointments, agency says
McALLEN, Texas (Border Report) — Asylum appointments by U.S. Customs and Border Protection have resumed at a Laredo port of entry, the agency told Border Report on Thursday.
Since June 3, the agency had halted CBP One app scheduled appointments in Laredo due to violence across the border in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. Migrants waiting for asylum interviews reported being robbed, kidnapped and held for ransom across the border.
After consulting with Mexican counterparts, the agency reports, they “have made considerable progress” and have resumed scheduling appointments at Laredo’s Bridge 1 pedestrian crossing. This is being done in consultation with the U.S. Department of State, CBP says.
“We continue to do the hard work, together with our regional partners, to manage a challenge that requires regional cooperation and congressional action, and to counter the lies spread by smugglers,” a CBP spokesperson said.
Title 8 immigration regulations have resumed following the end of Title 42 expulsions, which were lifted on May 11.
Asylum-seekers are strongly urged to use the agency’s CBP One app to schedule appointments at U.S. ports of entry to make their asylum claim. They are then processed under Title 8, which is a lengthier process that can result in removal, detention or parole.
When Laredo’s port shut down to appointments, the overflow was redirected to other ports, like El Paso, San Diego and Brownsville, Texas.