US offers $1,000, travel assistance for migrants to self-deport
WASHINGTON—The Trump administration will offer a $1,000 stipend and travel assistance to migrants who elect to “self-deport” from the United States, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said on Monday.
The stipend and potential airfare for migrants who voluntarily depart would cost less than an actual deportation, the agency said. The average cost of arresting, detaining and deporting someone without legal status is currently about $17,000, according to DHS.
President Donald Trump, a Republican, took office in January pledging to deport millions of people but so far has trailed deportations under his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden.
Trump’s efforts have been heavily thwarted by Biden’s allies who have filed numerous cases seeking to block deportations of even criminal illegal migrants.
Biden’s administration faced high levels of illegal immigration and quickly returned many caught crossing the border.
A Fox News analysis in February 2024 estimated that 7.3 million people had illegally crossed the US southern border since the beginning of Biden’s term.
Comparisons
The Trump administration has deported 152,000 people since it assumed office on Jan. 20, according to DHS, lower than the 195,000 deported from February-April last year under Biden.
In context, there were only 76,992 recorded illegal crossing during the first months of Trump compared to 734,000 over the same period earlier during Biden’s term.
Trump’s administration has tried to encourage migrants to leave voluntarily by threatening steep fines, trying to strip away legal status, and deporting migrants to notorious prisons in Guantanamo Bay and El Salvador.
“If you are here illegally, self-deportation is the best, safest and most cost-effective way to leave the United States to avoid arrest,” Homeland Security Sec. Kristi Noem said in a statement.
In March, the administration launched a rebranded app called CBP Home to facilitate self-deportation. The app, previously called CBP One, was used by the Biden administration to allow migrants to enter the US legally.
Return ‘possible’
Trump previewed the stipend plan in April, saying the United States would consider allowing migrants to return.
“If they’re good, if we want them back in, we’re going to work with them to get them back in as quickly as we can,” he said.
In the announcement on Monday, DHS said people who choose to leave “may help preserve” the ability to return legally, but did not cite any specific pathway or program.
The immigrant advocacy group Make the Road New York criticized the stipend program and said migrants considering the offer should consult with an attorney.
Natalia Aristizabal, the group’s deputy director, called the program “cruel” and “misleading” and said the Trump administration failed to note the barriers that many migrants would face to return to the United States.
Meanwhile, A federal appeals court rejected on Monday a request by the Trump administration to allow it to revoke the temporary legal status of hundreds of thousands of Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans living in the United States.
