DHS watchdog says Border Patrol did not 'thoroughly' plan for risks in CBP One program

The Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Office of the Inspector General on Wednesday revealed that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) did not adequately prepare for the risks that came with its latest immigration program.

The internal watchdog's report noted that the CBP was responsive to weaknesses with the CBP One application after it was launched, but that it failed to "assess and mitigate the technological risks involved with expanding the application to allow undocumented noncitizens to schedule appointments to present themselves for processing at Southwest Border Ports of Entry."

Some of the issues the investigation found included the functionality of the application, the sufficiency of the program's language translations, and the "equity of appointment distribution." This meant users experienced frequent crashes of the system, error messages, and language barriers. 

"Additionally, CBP may be missing an opportunity to use CBP One™ advance information to improve pre-arrival vetting procedures," the watchdog said in the report's introduction. "Although CBP uses biographic and biometric information submitted to CBP One™ to determine whether noncitizens have derogatory records, it does not leverage the information to identify suspicious trends as part of its pre-arrival vetting procedures."

The investigation also noted that the application had some security issues that made it more susceptible to cyber attacks. 

The report comes the day before Vice President Kamala Harris is scheduled to accept the Democratic Party's nomination for president. Her official acceptance will take place at the party's convention in Chicago.

The immigration crisis at the U.S. southern border is seen as a notable weakness for the Democratic Party as it gears up for the 2024 general election in November. Voters have frequently ranked border security as one of the biggest issues for them this election cycle. 

Misty Severi is an evening news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.