Haitian asylum seeker charged in murder of roommates approved to enter US via Biden’s CBP One app

Kenol Baptiste, 30, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter, and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon before his deportation hearing was set to take place

According to Fox News, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement confirmed that Baptiste had arrived at a port of entry in El Paso, Texas in July 2023 after booking an appointment via the app. He was ordered to appear in immigration court at a later date, processed, and paroled into the US.

"He came in over the border," Orange County Executive Steven Neuhaus explained, "but they did give him working papers, and he was scheduled to get an asylum hearing by a federal judge."

In an interview with News12, Neuhaus placed the blame, at least partially, at the feet of the Biden administration, calling the situation, "a failure on all levels of the federal government."

"We don't have any history, no background on these individuals," he said of those who enter the country illegally and commit crimes. "Who is monitoring them? That's the problem."

Baptiste is currently being held at the Orange County Jail, and ICE has secured a detainer to have him transferred to their custody when he's released.

The CBP One app, which launched in October 2020, now allows asylum seekers to schedule a date and time to surrender themselves at specific ports of entry into the US. The original intent of the app was primarily for legal visitors and those trading in perishable cargo. International organizations helping those eligible for the migrant protection program could schedule appointments for migrants to apply for asylum. Those asylum seekers would then be made to wait in Mexico for their hearings. This all changed under Biden.

Once the would-be asylum seeker is approved for entry, they are permitted to fly commercially into the US, to that specific port of entry. They are then arrested, given a court date, and released into the United States.

The Biden administration has committed to "welcoming thousands of additional refugees per month from the Western Hemisphere – with the goal of doubling the number of refugees the United States committed to welcome as part of the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection."

"In addition," officials said, "the United States will continue to accept up to 30,000 individuals per month from Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba, and Haiti as part of the expanded parole processes announced earlier this year. Encounters at the border for these nationalities plummeted when DHS expanded the parole programs."

This was a distinct expansion of the program.