Minutes after he was sworn in, an app introduced by his predecessor Joe Biden to help process claims for entering the United States went offline.
“Look what it says,” Tinoco said, pointing to a message on her cellphone screen informing users of CBP One that existing appointments had been canceled.
“Have compassion and let us cross,” she pleaded, saying that she had endured “six months of suffering” after leaving Venezuela where she had been living with her family.
Yaime Perez, a 27-year-old Cuban, also made an emotional appeal to Trump.
“Since we are here, please let us in, please, after all the work we have put in to get here, let us enter your country, so that we can better ourselves in life and be somebody,” she said.
Antony Herrera arrived at the border with his wife and three children after a long journey from their native Venezuela only to discover that their appointment had been canceled.
“We don’t know what is going to happen,” said the 31-year-old, one of millions of people who have left crisis-hit Venezuela, where President Nicolas Maduro was inaugurated this month for a third term after a disputed election victory.
Caravan heads for border