Trump administration offers unauthorized immigrants $1,000 to leave the country
- Share via
The Trump administration announced a plan Monday to try to ramp up the number of deportations: paying unauthorized immigrants $1,000 if they return to their home country voluntarily.
The Department of Homeland Security called the plan a “historic opportunity for illegal aliens,” noting in a news release that it would also pay for travel assistance.
Any immigrant who used the Customs and Border Protection Home App to inform the government that they plan to return home, the department said, would receive a $1,000 payment after the government had confirmed their return.
“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 Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement. “This is the safest option for our law enforcement, aliens and is a 70% savings for US taxpayers.”
President Trump has made mass deportations — a key platform of his 2024 election campaign — a priority in his first three months in office. But so far, the actual number of immigrants deported under his Republican administration has slightly lagged the number deported under his predecessor, Democratic President Biden, as fewer immigrants are now attempting to cross the U.S. border.
Last week, Trump escalated his showdown with Democratic-led states and cities on immigration enforcement, signing executive orders that direct federal agencies to publish a list of “sanctuary cities” that do not cooperate with federal agents in immigration enforcement.
One order directs the attorney general and Homeland Security secretary to publish a list of state and local jurisdictions that ‘obstruct the enforcement of federal immigration laws.’
The Trump administration is promoting its incentives to immigrants who are in the country illegally to leave on their own as a “dignified way to leave the U.S.” — one that it says will have them deprioritized for detention or being picked up by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents if they demonstrate they’re making plans to depart.
Homeland Security also provoked controversy in legal circles by promoting its offer as a way for unauthorized immigrants to have a legal path to reentering the U.S.: Self-deporting, the news release states, “may help preserve the option...to re-enter the United States legally in the future.”
Some immigration experts warned that this was a falsehood.
“It is an incredibly cruel bit of deception for DHS to be telling people that if they leave they ‘will maintain the ability to return to the U.S. legally in the future,’ Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, said on the social media platform X.
Reichlin-Melnick urged any immigrant considering whether to self-deport to speak to a lawyer.
“Despite DHS’s claims, leaving the country could impose SEVERE consequences for many people here currently without status, with a 10-year bar on reentry being a best-case scenario for most,” he said.
In an interview with Fox News on Monday, Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said immigrants who took advantage of the deal could “potentially come back the legal, right way and come back to live the American dream.”
“This might put you in a better position,” she added, “because there’s documentation that you have decided to self deport.”
Asked why immigrants should trust the Trump administration’s offer, McLaughlin said: “We’re giving you our word that we will give you this money and that you can leave today. It’s the safest way. You will not be arrested, you will not be detained, and we will give you that free flight.”
The Trump administration also touted its plan as a deal for American taxpayers.
“Even with the cost of the stipend, it is projected that the use of CBP Home will decrease the costs of a deportation by around 70 percent,” the Department of Homeland Security said in its release, noting that it costs more than $17,000, on average, to arrest, detain and remove an unauthorized immigrant.
Homeland Security said that an immigrant in the U.S. illegally recently used the program to receive a ticket for a flight from Chicago to Honduras, and that additional plane tickets have been booked for the next few weeks.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
Sign up for Essential California
The most important California stories and recommendations in your inbox every morning.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
