Migrants struggle to get appointments through the Border Patrol app

On the banks of the Rio Grande in Matamoros, Mexico, across from Brownsville, Texas, a group of 11 migrants from Venezuela tried to make an appointment Thursday while sitting outside their tents. They refreshed their phones over and over, only to get error messages in response. The system was overwhelmed with thousands of migrants trying to secure appointments and available slots quickly filled up.

“We can’t get in, we don’t understand the new system,” lamented Wendy Perez Peña, 31, who left Venezuela in March to escape poverty.

Jeison Rodriguez Jesus Salas, 27, shook his head in frustration.

“They didn’t update it properly, they should have updated it better,” he said.

None of the group of 11 had been able to get an appointment on Thursday.

Elsewhere along the border, under a blazing sun in Reynosa, Mexico, across from McAllen, Texas, 20-year-old Osiris Yamilet Ochoa had repeatedly tried to make an appointment through the app.

She opened it again on Thursday afternoon and it said in Spanish, “Waiting for an appointment.”

“Everyone is trying to cross into the United States, but we’ve heard that if you cross before your appointment date, it could be considered illegal crossing and could hurt our cause,” Ms. Ochoa said while taking a break from selling gum. on the street to buy baby milk for her 8-month-old daughter, Milagros. “I don’t want to risk it. We’ve been here for three months now. We can wait a few more days.”