Technical Issues and Security Vulnerabilities Plague CBP Appointment App for Immigrants

A recent report by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) has revealed significant technical issues and security vulnerabilities in the official app used by illegal immigrants to schedule appointments at U.S. ports of entry. The OIG assessed whether Customs and Border Protection (CBP) effectively planned and implemented the app, which was designed to facilitate the processing of migrants at the southwest border. The findings indicate that while CBP made some initial improvements post-launch, it failed to adequately address critical technological risks associated with the app's expansion. The report highlights that CBP did not consider essential factors such as the app's design, infrastructure adequacy, language translation sufficiency, and equitable appointment distribution. Consequently, users faced frequent application crashes, error messages, and language barriers, which hindered their ability to secure appointments fairly. Originally launched in 2020, the app was expanded in January 2023 to allow migrants to submit information and schedule appointments before arriving at designated entry points. Moreover, the OIG noted that while the app collects biographic and biometric data to vet migrants, it does not utilize this information to identify suspicious trends. The lack of a systematic analysis of the data could prevent CBP from recognizing patterns that may indicate fraudulent behavior among users. The report also identified security vulnerabilities within the app and its supporting systems, warning that without timely implementation of security patches, user data could be at risk of exploitation. The OIG has recommended that CBP enhance its data analysis capabilities and routinely assess the app's security to mitigate these risks. The Epoch Times has reached out to CBP for further comment.