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Low reported severity Media Coverage

Advocates say CBP One asylum app's facial recognition rejected photos of Black asylum seekers at the US-Mexico border, blocking appointments

In January 2023 US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) made its CBP One mobile app the only way for migrants at the US-Mexico border to apply for asylum appointments and exemption from Title 42 restrictions; applicants had to upload a photo of themselves through the app. In February 2023 the Guardian and the Border Chronicle, both reporting by Melissa del Bosque, quoted three non-profits working with Haitian and African asylum seekers in Tijuana, Reynosa and Matamoros who said the app's facial recognition was failing to register many people with darker skin, so they could not upload their photos and obtain appointments. The executive director of Al Otro Lado said Haitians at a workshop her organisation held in Tijuana the day after the app went live got error after error message. The Sidewalk School said hardly anyone among about 4,000 Black asylum seekers in Reynosa and 1,000 Haitians in Matamoros was getting an appointment, and that shining construction lights on faces let adults get past the photo step but not children under six, which kept families from applying. A Haitian Bridge Alliance attorney said the app had helped lighter-skinned applicants but not Haitians. The advocates also described other barriers, such as outdated phones and poor internet access. CBP did not answer the Guardian's questions before publication and told the Border Chronicle no one was available to respond. No technical analysis of the failures is reported.

AI system
CBP One app
Occurred
Jan 2023
Reported
7 February 2023
Event location
Mexico
What the AI did
Made a decision about the person
Reported harm
Legal HarmOther Material Harm
Whose AI use
An institution’s AI use
Setting
Public services · Justice
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources, 1 underlying account
7 claims: 7 reported. 3 open questions
People reported harmed
Not reliably quantifiable from the sources

AI system as recorded: Facial recognition photo capture in US Customs and Border Protection's CBP One mobile app, required in 2023 for migrants at the US-Mexico border to request asylum appointments, as described by non-profits quoted by the Guardian and the Border Chronicle

Reported harm

Advocates say the app's facial recognition failed to register many darker-skinned asylum seekers, so they could not upload their photos or obtain the asylum appointments the app had become the only route to; they say lighting workarounds helped adults but not children under six, which kept families from applying.

Outcome

Unknown

The non-profits said they were in daily contact with CBP about problems with the app and that CBP had added a Haitian Creole version. CBP gave no comment to either outlet. No change to the face capture or other remedy is reported in these sources.

What remains unknown

  • How many people the app's face capture rejected; the advocates give no count.
  • Whether the rejections came from the facial recognition itself, phone cameras or lighting; no technical analysis is reported.
  • Whether CBP changed the face capture or how long the problem lasted; neither source reports a later response.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. Non-profits running workshops and shelters for asylum seekers told the Guardian and the Border Chronicle that the CBP One app's facial recognition did not register the faces of many darker-skinned applicants: the app returned error messages and would not accept their photos, which were required to obtain an asylum appointment through the app, the only route CBP allowed at the time. The rejection of the photo is the system's own output and the advocates connect it to applicants being unable to get appointments. The attribution rests on the advocates' observations; no technical analysis is reported, CBP did not respond, and the advocates also cite old phones and poor connectivity.

7 claims: 7 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported In early January 2023 the US government announced that the CBP One app would be the only way migrants arriving at the US-Mexico border could apply for asylum and exemption from Title 42 restrictions; uploading a photo through the app was required to obtain an appointment.

Causal attribution. Government announcement as reported; the photo requirement is the reporter's and advocates' description.

  • theguardian.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    The government announced in early January that the new CBP One mobile app would be the only way migrants arriving at the border can apply for asylum and exemption from Title 42 restrictions; which is now required to apply for asylum
  • theborderchronicle.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    the Biden administration announced in early January that the CBP One app would be the only way people at the border can apply for asylum and an exemption from Title 42.
Reported Non-profits assisting Black asylum seekers said the app's facial recognition was failing to register many people with darker skin tones, so they could not upload their photos to receive asylum appointments; Al Otro Lado's executive director said Haitians at a Tijuana workshop held the day after the app went live on 12 January got error after error message.

Causal attribution. Advocates' accounts of what they observed; no technical analysis or CBP confirmation is reported.

  • theguardian.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    Non-profits that assist Black asylum seekers are finding that the app, CBP One, is failing to register many people with darker skin tones, effectively barring them from their right to request entry into the US.; The facial recognition is not picking up [images] if people have darker skin tones,; held a workshop for Haitians in Tijuana on how to use the app a day after it went live on 12 January. But with the app unable to map the features of many darker-skinned asylum seekers, they cannot upload their photos in order to receive an asylum appointment with the US immigration authorities, Pinheiro said.; The Haitians at the workshop were getting error after error message on the app
  • theborderchronicle.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    Because the app cannot map the features of darker-skinned asylum seekers, they cannot upload their photo to receive an asylum appointment, Pinheiro said.
Reported The co-director of the Sidewalk School said about 4,000 Black asylum seekers were waiting in Reynosa and at least 1,000 Haitians in Matamoros, and that hardly anyone was getting an asylum appointment.

Causal attribution. The non-profit's estimate; the figures describe people waiting and are not counted as people harmed.

  • theguardian.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    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.
Reported The Sidewalk School said shining bright construction lights on faces let adults get past the photo step, but it still did not work for children under six, which prevented families from applying because the app accepted only some family members.

Causal attribution. The non-profit's account of its workaround and of families blocked.

  • theguardian.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    One fix they’ve come up with is installing bright construction lights at the shelter in Reynosa, which Haitians and others shine on their faces as they take the photo to upload to the app. “So far it seems to be working, so the adults can get past that,; still not working for children under the age of six.
  • theborderchronicle.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    This prevents families from being able to apply for asylum, since the app will accept only one or two members of the family, but not the rest.
Reported A Haitian Bridge Alliance staff attorney said the app had helped lighter-skinned people from other nations obtain asylum appointments, but not Haitians and other Black applicants.

Causal attribution. Advocate's comparison; not measured.

  • theguardian.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    said the CBP One app has helped “lighter-skin toned people from other nations” obtain their asylum appointments “but not Haitians” and other Black applicants.
Reported The advocates also described barriers unrelated to facial recognition: many asylum seekers had outdated phones that did not support the app, or limited internet access, and a new phone could upload the image.

Causal attribution. Kept as context: other causes of failed uploads that the sources do not separate from the face capture.

  • theguardian.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    Besides the face recognition technology not registering them, there are other barriers, too. Many asylum seekers have outdated cellphones – if they have cellphones at all – that don’t support the CBP One app and often have limited or no access to the internet.; If you can afford to spend $1,000 on a new cellphone, then you can upload the image no problem.
Reported CBP did not reply to the Guardian's questions before publication, and a CBP spokesperson told the Border Chronicle no one was available to respond.

Causal attribution. The agency's non-response.

  • theguardian.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    CBP did not reply with comments before publication, after being approached with questions by the Guardian.
  • theborderchronicle.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    The Border Chronicle contacted CBP with several detailed questions about the CBP One app, including the problems with its facial-recognition technology. A spokesperson for CBP, Justin Long, said no one was available to respond.

Sources

2 sources inspected, from 1 underlying account. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read in English on 2026-10-31; no translation. Applies to s1.

Read in English on 2026-10-31 from an Internet Archive capture of 26 February 2024; no translation. Same reporter as the Guardian article. Applies to s2.

Event countries: Mexico. Affected-person countries: Mexico. Court countries: Unknown.

The advocates describe asylum seekers using the app while waiting in the Mexican border cities of Tijuana, Reynosa and Matamoros to request entry into the United States.

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-31: Published as a government asylum app whose facial recognition, according to non-profits that assisted applicants, rejected the photos of many Black asylum seekers so they could not obtain appointments, the only route then available. The account is attributed to the advocates; other barriers and CBP's non-response are recorded.

People described

Black asylum seekers, mainly from Haiti and African countries, waiting in Tijuana, Reynosa and Matamoros in January and February 2023, including families with children under six, as described by the non-profits assisting them

People reported harmed in this case

Not reliably quantifiable from the sources

The advocates describe groups (Haitians at a Tijuana workshop, families with young children at a Reynosa shelter) without counts. The figures of about 4,000 Black asylum seekers in Reynosa and 1,000 Haitians in Matamoros describe people waiting, not people whose photos the app rejected, so they are not counted.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Tags

#cbp-one#facial-recognition#asylum#immigration#public-services#us-mexico-border

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). Advocates say CBP One asylum app's facial recognition rejected photos of Black asylum seekers at the US-Mexico border, blocking appointments. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2023-us-mexico-border-cbp-one-asylum-app-face-capture-failed-black-applicants-advocates-say

BibTeX

@misc{2023_us_mexico_border_cbp_one_asylum_app_face_capture_failed_black_applicants_advocates_say,
  title = {Advocates say CBP One asylum app's facial recognition rejected photos of Black asylum seekers at the US-Mexico border, blocking appointments},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2023-us-mexico-border-cbp-one-asylum-app-face-capture-failed-black-applicants-advocates-say}
}

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