Mandatory App for Asylum Seekers Fails Darker-Skinned Applicants

What's the story?

• Immigration rights activists say that the U.S.'s newly released app required for asylum applications is not only beset by technical problems, but is failing to recognize the faces of Black and darker-skinned migrants.

What is the app?

• The app, CBP One, was released by Customs and Border Protection in Jan. as part of a strategy by the Biden administration to change how they process asylum applications.
• It is now mandatory for prospective migrants and asylum seekers to use the app to schedule an appointment with border personnel at a port of entry along the U.S.-Mexico border.
• It is also mandatory for immigrants seeking an exemption from Title 42, the COVID-19 public health law that allows border personnel to expel prospective migrants on public health grounds immediately.
• By Feb. 10, the app had been used by 20,000 people. Border officials praise the app for reducing detentions and expulsions at the border, and discouraging migrants from making the dangerous journey North without consent from U.S. border security.

Mandatory application photo 

• The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Privacy Impact Assessment says applicants must take a selfie as the first step in the application, which is then searched against photos in a U.S. border security database.
• In a statement, CBP said:

"One of the security features of the CBP One mobile application is the requirement that an individual takes a live photo of themselves each time they access the application. This security feature is designed to prevent bad actors from utilizing the mobile applications."

An app beset by problems

• Activists say that some of the declines in asylum seekers are attributable to technical issues that make it harder for darker-skinned migrants to book appointments.
• The app has difficulty recognizing the photos of darker-skinned applicants and rejects their submitted images. Without their faces being recognized, they cannot be searched in the database, and their application cannot be approved. These repeated rejections impact the ability of applicants to schedule an appointment in a timely manner.
• Erika Pinheiro, the executive director of the humanitarian group Al Otro Lado, said:

"People with darker skin are getting a higher rate of error messages to the point where many of them have been unable to upload a photo at all."

• In addition to struggling to read features, easy usage of the app has been impacted by geolocation failures and frozen screens. The app also requires a degree of tech fluency and requires users to set up two-factor authentication to log in, creating further barriers.
• Pinheiro said the app is challenging for older mobile phone users, those who cannot afford up-to-date technology, and those residing in rural, low-signal areas.

Inherent bias?

• The inability to read the features of darker-skinned applicants is part of a broader conversation about how AI has bias built into the design.
• A study by the National Institute of Standards and Technology found that facial recognition technology has the highest success rates when recognizing white, middle-aged men and has the lowest success rate with Black women.
• A 2020 Harvard study found that facial recognition has an error rate of over 30% for women with darker skin. Georgetown University researcher Nina Wang said:

"What we're seeing is essentially that people with darker skins cannot apply for asylum for no other reason than the color of their skin. That is something that seriously negatively impacts people's livelihoods."

• Felicia Rangel-Samponaro, co-director of a non-profit, said:

“There are about 4,000 Black asylum seekers waiting in Reynosa and at least another 1,000 Haitians in Matamoros. Hardly anyone is getting an asylum appointment. Neither population is being represented as it should.” 

The big picture

• In the 2022 fiscal year, a record number of 2.76 million migrants were stopped, detained, or expelled at the U.S.-Mexico border, with an influx of migrants from Venezuela, Haiti, and Central America fleeing drug-related violence, environmental degradation, poverty, and conflict.
• In Dec., there were 221,675 detentions at the border, which fell 42% to 128,410 in Jan.

Do you support the use of a mandatory app for asylum seekers?

—Emma Kansiz

(Photo Credit: Canva/Raw Pixel)