Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump delivers a speech at the Prairie du Chien Area Arts Center in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, on September 28, 2024. Credit – Kamil Krazaczynski—AP
As borders continue to play an important policy role in the upcoming 2024 presidential election, former President and current Republican nominee Donald Trump criticized the government’s immigration process during a campaign speech on September 28 in Wisconsin.
He once again mentioned the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) application – a mobile application that serves as a single portal to various CBP services, including a place for immigrants to schedule an appointment to present themselves at the port of entry and for the operator to request. cargo inspection.
“They have a phone app so people can come into our country … it’s a smart immigrant, I guess, because most people don’t know what the phone app is,” Trump said at the Prairie Du Chien Area Arts. Centered in Prairie Du Chien, a town of about 5,500 on the banks of the Mississippi River.
The campaign for Vice President and Democratic candidate for President Kamala Harris posted a video of the moment on X (formerly Twitter), with a caption that read Trump’s comments.
Some social media users have reacted to Trump’s comments, expressing surprise that Trump believes many people don’t know what the app is.
“I feel like most people know what a phone app is,” wrote former tennis star Andy Roddick on X. “It’s not 2004 anymore. It’s 2024,” wrote another, pointing out that Trump has his own social media platform, Truth Social, which has a component apps. Meanwhile, one commenter said: “How is that unrelated to the fact that you have to believe that most people don’t know what a phone app is?”
The post from Kamala HQ describes the campaign’s new strategy of posting clips from Trump’s speeches, and letting the culture of Internet virality do its work. The campaign’s X account posted more clips from Trump’s speech in Wisconsin, including Trump’s comments about flying on stage.
“Oh, there are flies. Oh, I wonder where those flies came from,” said Trump. “Well, two years ago, I wouldn’t have flown here. But they’re changing fast. We can’t take it anymore.”
Trump did not elaborate on his comments about the insects, which were made during a section of his speech that discussed immigration. In response to the moment, some social media users invoked the viral incident of 2020 when a fly landed on Mike Pence’s head during the vice presidential debate against Kamala Harris.
This isn’t the first time Trump has targeted the CBP One App. Earlier this month, Trump posted about it on his Truth Social account, calling the service “Kamala’s phone app for illegal smuggling” and vowing to shut it down.
According to the CBP website, the CBP One App was launched on October 28, 2020—while Trump was still President. In January 2023, the Biden Administration announced it would expand the use of the app, at which time migrants began requesting appointments using CBP One. The application rose to prominence when the Biden Administration implemented new asylum rules after Title 42 expired.
Read more: Migrants Struggle to Make Asylum Claims Through CBP Applications
If a person does not seek asylum in the country they are moving to the US or does not use the CBP One application, their asylum claim made in the US will be rejected. However, there has been a lot of criticism from immigration rights advocates that the CBP One App cannot keep up with the demands of migrants.
Trump’s Wisconsin speech, and his focus on immigration, follows Harris’ visit to the US-Mexico border. It was Harris’ first appearance there since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee. After visiting the border on Friday, he made comments in Arizona, presenting a “difficult picture of immigration”.
“I reject the false choice that suggests we must choose between securing the border and creating an orderly, secure, and humane system,” Harris said. “We can and we must do both.”
Contact us at letters@time.com.
