Immigration lawyers worried legal asylum seekers will self-deport after Trump administration email

President Donald Trump this month eliminated protections for asylum seekers who entered the country through a mobile app called CBP One established by the Biden administration.

Now, immigration lawyers are worried that people with asylum cases who have a legal right to stay in the country might self-deport because of an email sent by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) telling them, “It is time for you to leave the United States.”

That email, titled Notice of Termination of Parole, was sent to thousands of people who entered the country in recent years through CBP One.

“If you do not depart the United States immediately, you will be subject to potential law enforcement actions that will result in your removal from the United States,” the email states.

The app, which debuted in early 2023, was an effort by the Biden administration to streamline the asylum process for people fleeing dangerous situations in their home countries. Nearly 900,000 people entered the country through that program, according to data from the federal government.

The program also offered migrants temporary work authorization.

Toward the end of his term, Biden issued executive actions that severely limited people’s ability to access the U.S. asylum system if they crossed the border illegally. It was an effort to encourage more people to use the mobile app.

Because demand for CBP One outnumbered supply, many asylum seekers spent up to nine months living in dangerous Mexican border cities while waiting for CBP One approval.

David Landry, a San Diego-based immigration lawyer, characterized the Trump administration email as a misleading scare tactic. He said many people who received the email have a legal right to stay in the U.S. until a judge rules on their asylum claim.

He points to one of his clients who has a pending asylum case, which means she does not have to leave the country. Yet, she was still frightened by the email.

“She was terrified,” he said. “She came to us immediately and said, ‘Oh my God, do I have to leave, do I pack up my kids?”

Other immigrant rights advocates have also criticized the Trump administration’s decision, calling it “cruel and brazen.”

“These are people who followed explicit instructions from the U.S. government,” Refugees International said in a statement. “They waited in Mexico for CBP One appointments, were vetted by DHS at land border ports of entry and are in ongoing U.S. immigration court proceedings.”

Republicans criticized the CBP One program throughout the 2024 presidential election, arguing that President Joe Biden allowed too many people to enter the country.

The department referenced those critiques when asked to explain the decision to terminate protections.

“The Biden Administration abused the parole authority to allow millions of illegal aliens into the U.S. which further fueled the worst border crisis in U.S. history. Under federal law, Secretary Kristi Noem — in support of the Present — has full authority to revoke parole,” DHS said in a statement.

Characterizing people who entered the country through the CBP One app as “illegal” is inaccurate. Everyone who came into the U.S. through the app, entered legally.

Landry described the termination of protections for CBP One travelers as a “betrayal” of people who obeyed the law and waited in line to enter the country.

Pressuring asylum seekers to return to the countries they flee from puts them in danger, Landry said.

“We need to take their fears seriously because they are real,” he said. “I have unfortunately had clients that were returned to their home country and were murdered, just as they said it would happen.”

Landry speaks of a case about 20 years ago in which a Honduran man was murdered at the airport when he arrived back in Honduras.

“It broke my heart,” he said.