Need an appointment to speak with someone to begin your asylum process? There’s an app for that now, thanks to the Department of Homeland Security and CBP. The first migrants to use the app showed up Wednesday morning at Ped West, one of two pedestrian crossings between San Diego and Tijuana.

So far, so good, according to Jefferson Sosa. He showed up bright and early for his appointment. Sosa was the very first person to be scheduled for an appointment using the new app.

Sosa secured the first appointment allocated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s CBP One app designed to help asylum-seekers set up interviews to begin their asylum cases.

“By the grace of God I’m here,” Sosa said in Spanish.

He told Border Report and other members of the media that he arrived in Tijuana on Jan. 5 after being expelled from the United States.

The Venezuelan national was sent to a shelter in Tijuana where he was able to connect to CBP One and secure his appointment.

“It was simple, not complicated at all, it took about 10 minutes to get everything done,” he said.

Migrants are allowed to make appointments with CBP up to two weeks out through its website and through the CBP One app. The new app is part of the process the Biden administration is using to phase out Title 42. Currently, the use of Title 42 is before the Supreme Court but it is likely just a matter of time before it is phased out. It’s a public health order that was implemented at the suggestion of the CDC during the previous administration when the coronavirus pandemic began. Title 42 helped mitigate the pandemic at the southern border and allowed CBP agents to immediately expel illegal migrants.

CBP has relied on advocates, churches, attorneys, and migrant shelters up until now to help arrange exemptions. It’s been done without publicly identifying them or saying how many slots were available. The advocates have chosen who gets in, and CBP has the final say. With the new system, migrants apply directly to the agency and a government official will determine who gets in. It cuts out the middle step and that sounds like a good idea. The appointments will be at one of eight crossings which include Brownsville, El Paso, Hidalgo and Laredo in Texas; Nogales, Arizona; and Calexico and San Diego’s Ped West in California.

Sosa is happy and grateful, and he said so. In order to qualify for the program, migrants must have a sponsor in the United States. Sosa has his grandparents and uncles in Tampa, Florida, he said, and they will take him. The government plans to be able to schedule 200 migrants for interviews every day, according to Enrique Lucero, director of Tijuana’s Migrant Affairs Office.

Lucero and his office have been instrumental in helping asylum-seekers navigate the CBP’ One app securing appointments in Tijuana at various shelters.

“All interviews for this month and February have been allocated,” said Lucero. “Migrants will get a notification telling them when more appointments will be available.”

Lucero expects more slots to open at the end of this month when March appointments will become available.

“There are a lot of migrants who don’t own a cellphone or don’t have an adequate phone to be able to use the app, but we have found alternatives we’ll try to help,” he said. “Everything seems to be working well and that’s our goal to be part of an orderly, secure and humanitarian migration.”

The government’s app is currently available only in English and Spanish and requires access to a smartphone, email, and reliable internet. A Creole version is planned to be added soon for migrants from Haiti. The Department of Homeland Security said the app will be available to migrants in central and northern Mexico.

As I said, so far, so good, but Wednesday was the first day of implementation. We’ll see how the process goes from here.