“As President, I will immediately end the immigrant invasion in America. We will stop all immigrant flights, end all illegal entry, terminate the Kamala phone app (CBP One App) for illegal smuggling, eliminate immunity from deportation, suspend refugee resettlement, and We will send Kamala’s illegal immigrants back to their home countries (also known as repatriation), Trump wrote in a post to X on September 15.

As President, I will immediately end the immigrant invasion in America. We will stop all immigration flights, end all illegal entries, end the Kamala phone app for illegal smuggling (CBP One App), remove immunity from deportation, suspend refugee resettlement, and restore Kamala’s rights…

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 15, 2024

But the campaign is promising to get rid of immigration functions that the Biden administration added to the campaign. US Customs and Border Protection Immigration policy analysts say the move could trigger an influx of illegal immigrants or have the opposite effect, drawing fewer people from outside the United States to the southern border.

If Trump removes the app, immigrants in Mexico will not be able to apply for an appointment and instead choose to cross the border illegally. But the shutdown also means that immigrants in their home countries can choose not to travel to the U.S., knowing they have no chance of entering the majority on parole through the appointment process.

Eliminating the practice could lead to more people rushing to the border in the short term, hoping to get an appointment from a long waiting list, according to Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council in Washington.

“The Biden administration’s termination of alternative legal pathways could lead to increased migration at the border, but the exact impact is difficult to predict with certainty,” Reichlin-Melnick said in a message. “Ending the CBP One process at ports of entry could encourage some immigrants to take their chances crossing illegally rather than waiting months for a chance to enter Mexico legally.”

The Biden-Harris administration added two functions to the app in early 2023 that allow immigrants to apply for admission from outside the country or meet with a U.S. customs official. The move was intended to provide immigrants with a way to be admitted to the country without illegally crossing the southern border between ports of entry, but Republicans criticized it as a backdoor that would admit hundreds of thousands of people into the country in less than two years.

The CBP One application allows immigrants from four countries: Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to apply to enter the United States on parole; This allows a person to stay for two years and obtain a work permit. Recipients must have a sponsor in the United States and pay international commercial flight expenses. More than half a million people have been accepted since the process was fully implemented in January 2023.

The app’s functionality to allow immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to apply and fly into the country was part of a “carrot and stick deal with Mexico,” which in turn allowed the United States the authority to expel some of its citizens from the country. Countries bordering Mexico.

“Ending the program could threaten the agreement and limit the United States’ ability to combat immigration from countries that limit deportation flights, such as Venezuela,” Reichlin-Melnick said.

The app’s second function is to allow immigrants in Mexico to make an appointment at a land port of entry at the southern border to meet with U.S. customs officials. Up to 1,450 appointments can be scheduled per day; That’s a total of more than 43,000 per month. Immigrants who make appointments wait months to be seen at one of eight entry points used for appointments and are overwhelmingly accepted.

The Center for Immigration Studies takes a hard-line approach to immigration and views CBP One as going beyond the authority of the executive branch.

Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies, called the CBP One app a “gateway” for immigrants to enter the country because it encourages them to travel to Mexico, where they can then request an appointment.

Eric Ruark, research director of the nonpartisan immigration organization NumbersUSA, said the Biden White House has not yet announced whether it will try to gradually increase the number of daily appointments to attract more people to the country before Trump takes office.

“The Biden administration has used parole and (temporary protected status) and CBP One enforcement to put people on paths they think are legal. “Are they going to try to expedite these to get more people in and then make a deal with the Trump administration with the headache of trying to reverse these,” Ruark said. “I anticipate they will try to accelerate accepting as many people as possible before January (2025).”

The Trump administration may already have a solution to deal with the potential influx of people choosing to come to the U.S. through ports of entry because their appointments are no longer available.

Trump could reinstate the Immigrant Protection Protocols, also known as “Remain in Mexico,” which require immigrants seeking asylum to live south of the border while their cases are processed in immigration court.

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In addition, last June, President Joe Biden took executive action that greatly impacted the ability of illegal immigrants arriving at the border to seek asylum, imposing harsh consequences on immigrants arrested for crossing the border illegally but not seeking asylum.

If Trump keeps Biden’s executive order in place, immigrants stuck between ports of entry would be “automatically disqualified from seeking asylum” and face a five-year ban from seeking asylum.