Send message to Author

Paper short abstract

Digitization does not stop at the US-Mexican border. The asylum app “CBP One” made it easier to cross the border, but at the same time tightened controls and has led to new burdens for asylum seekers.

Paper long abstract

The US border policy is characterized not only by a discursive and material tightening, but also by an increasing digitization of the border. This contribution examines the CBP One asylum app, which was used by the US government between 2023 and 2025 as a central administrative tool for asylum seekers crossing the border. CBP One has digitized the US border, (once again) outsourced it to Mexico, and at the same time shifted it to smartphones and thus into the hands and everyday lives of asylum seekers. As a result, the border has been blurred once again. With the app, the US government is using “logistical” technology that, on the one hand, facilitates entry, but at the same time also means stricter immigration controls and restricts the right to asylum. Especially for people who do not own a cell phone or whose phones do not meet the technical requirements of the app, a digital wall is added to the physical one. In addition, technical errors, the randomness of appointments at the border, and constant comparison with others not only cause enormous stress, emotions such as frustration and despair among users, but also lead to increasing polarization. Methodologically, I examine the impact of the app on the border, asylum seekers, and their bodies based on an ethnographic analysis of the border regime that I conducted in the summer of 2023 in the two Mexican border towns of Tapachula and Tijuana.