As migrants pour into the U.S. illegally, Mexican cartels are using smartphones to facilitate their smuggling, making payments to drivers and manipulating the Customs and Border Protection app to get more people in.
The CBP One app allows entrants to the United States to schedule appointments to appear at U.S. ports of entry.
Ostensibly, its users must be in northern Mexico to schedule an appointment, though reporting from the The Washington Examiner suggested that users have turned to virtual private networks (VPN) to evade the geographic requirements.
House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Mark E. Green, R-Tenn., confirmed to the outlet in August that the app was being abused by cartels to get more people into the U.S.
“The Biden administration has continuously shown violent cartels that they may operate as they please at our Southwest border,” Green said.