The Trump administration has repeatedly stressed that its focus is to deport violent criminals who entered the United States illegally. According to the president, he wants to deport “the worst first.” Few people would argue with that goal.

However, recent actions of the Trump administration make clear that even migrants who entered the county legally may be subject to detention and deportation. The abrupt termination of the CBP-One program by executive order is one glaring example.

CBP One, a phone app, allowed individuals seeking admission to the United States to submit information and schedule screening appointments with Border Patrol agents at one of eight designated points of entry. Though fraught with technical glitches in its January 2023 expansion, 936,500 immigrants came into the country legally through the program before its closure two years later.

Access to appointments appeared to disincentivize illegal entry. In November 2024, the number of people who came to the border’s ports of entry, mostly with CBP One appointments, exceeded Border Patrol irregular entry apprehensions, according to Customs and Border Patrol data from the Washington Office on Latin America.

Those who had a CBP One appointment underwent national security and public safety checks, including biometrics and verification of data submitted earlier by phone. Those who met standards at the appointment were admitted into the United States with parole and issued a notice to appear. Those who didn’t were blocked.

While an appointment alone didn’t provide an individual with asylum adjudication, it started the lengthy process by which they could apply for asylum and facilitated compliance with legal proceedings going forward. Admittees were granted immediate work authorization, enabling breadwinners to support their families without the usual five- to seven-month wait for a work permit. And they were welcomed into the workforce to help fill a labor shortage.

In January 2025 the new administration changed the rules. It characterized CBP One admissions as too permissive, falsely claiming it fast-tracked entry into the United States. Tens of thousands of scheduled border appointments were canceled. Shutting down CBP One appointments and challenging the legal status of those already here on humanitarian parole caused fear and confusion. The app on their phone — their official identification and link to check-ins— could no longer be used.

Reports swirled about immigrants detained and deported, despite following the rules. “Once-routine immigration check-ins become high-stakes calculation as some are detained,” reported the Washington Post March 14. ICE and its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, are not responding to inquiries like the Feb. 28 ABC15 Arizona news segment about a CBP One asylum-seeker with a work permit, job, and driver’s license detained in a Walmart parking lot while waiting for a delivery order. His wife said she was not able to learn where he was being held. Though the news outlet investigation found no criminal violations in his name, the station reportedly had not received a response to their inquiry 21 days later.

In March, as part of a $200 million domestic and international ad campaign , Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Neom announced that the app had been rebranded as “CBP Home” for undocumented immigrants. “The CBP Home app gives aliens the option to leave now and self-deport, so they may still have the opportunity to return legally in the future and live the American dream,” Noem added in the campaign labeled “Stay Out and Leave Now.” “If they don’t, we will find them, we will deport them, and they will never return.”

Anyone with the old CBP One app was redirected to the new version to self-deport.

“There’s data and information in there that we will preserve so that we can ensure we know who’s coming into this country and who’s already here that we need to go find,” Neom said, in a tacit admission that these immigrants are vetted people who follow rules.

It is unclear who would actually use the new CBP Home app to self-deport, or why documented legal immigrants would trust vague promises and opt to go through the application process all over again.

Laura Rivera, a senior staff attorney at Just Futures Law, said in The Guardian “…immigrants should carefully examine their legal options with trusted advisers… this move reflects Trump’s cynical strategy to flood the zone with messaging that creates fear among immigrant communities while currying favor with his base.”

Meanwhile, a young medical provider from South America who followed the rules coming to New England through CBP One — arriving just days before it was closed down — waits in the shadows to start their new life.

Julie Zimmer is a retired journalism instructor. She and her husband, Van, moved to Peterborough from Iowa seven years ago. Her advocacy stems from an interest in theSustainable Development Goals and several trips to visit family living and working in Guatemala. She and Gloria B. Anderson have also written several “Immigrants of New Hampshire” stories for the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript.