Trump DHS pick Noem vows to stop controversial app used by migrants on ‘day one’

Noem of ChristPresident-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security told lawmakers she will end the controversial CBP One app and a related migrant parole program that has allowed nearly 1.5 million immigrants into the United States.

“Yes, senator, if confirmed and I have the opportunity to be secretary, CBP One will be shut down on day one,” Noem told Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Homeland Security Committee .

Noem was first asked by Hawley if the southern border was secure.

NOEM PRALTER EXIT OF POLICE, SUPPORT FOR THE BORDER UNION TO DHS CHIEF

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem testifies during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on her nomination for Secretary of Homeland Security, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, January 17, 2025. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP)

“Senator, no, the southern border is not secure today. But in just three days, we will have a new president in this country, President Donald J. Trump. And he will secure our border,” she said.

She was then asked about the use of the CBP One app, which allows immigrants to be paroled into the United States. The app was created during the first Trump administration to help schedule cargo inspections. However, it was controversially expanded in 2023 to allow migrants to make an appointment at a port of entry to be allowed entry, first because of an exemption from the Title 42 public health executive order and then, since May, to be paroled to the United States as part of the Biden administration’s expansion of “legal avenues.”

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By the end of December, more than 936,500 people had made appointments to be paroled through the app, according to Customs and Border Protection.

Linked to that was a parole process for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans (CHNV), which allows up to 30,000 nationals a month from those countries to receive travel authorization to enter the United States after a vetting process. By the end of December, about 531,000 nationals had gained access through the program. It was first applied to Venezuelans in October 2022 and extended to the other three nationalities in January 2023.

While the Biden administration said it was part of an effort to encourage legal, rather than illegal, immigration and had been part of a crackdown on nationals entering illegally from those groups, opponents denounced it as a ” concierge service” for otherwise illegal mass migration.

TRUMP DHS PICK NOEM LIKELY TO FACE DEPORTATION INVESTIGATION, BORDER PLANS AT CONFIRMATION HEARING

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem is sworn in during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on her nomination to be Secretary of Homeland Security, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, January 17, 2025. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP)

Noem said she would terminate CBP One on her first day in office, although the agency will retain some information.

“There’s data and information in there that we want to preserve so we can make sure we know who’s coming into this country and who’s already here that we need to find,” she clarified.

She then pointed to CHNV, “where our federal government actually paid to fly people into this country directly from other countries without any investigation or knowing who they are.”

“So there are more of these programs that need to be eliminated, and we need to make sure that we’re following legal immigration laws,” she said.

Hawley followed up, asking if she wanted to put an end to “abuse” in the parole system.

“We’re going to go back to case-by-case evaluation of these parole cases and make sure that we have more resources, if you want to work with us, to make sure that our legal immigration system is fully utilized, that we have more judges, more immigration courts. , so we can treat people legally and make sure they go through that process instead of, as Joe Biden has done, using this as an excuse to allow people into our country without consequence,” she said.

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Noem, if confirmed, will oversee DHS at a time when the agency is expected to launch a historic mass deportation operation targeting illegal immigrants in the United States while also trying to expand border security on the southern and northern borders.

She will work with “border czar” Tom Homan, who was chosen by Trump in November to lead the operation and border security efforts.