The administration of US President Donald Trump says it is going to pay $1,000 to undocumented immigrants in the United States who return to their home countries voluntarily as it pushes forward with its plans for mass deportations.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a news release on Monday that it’s also paying for travel assistance and people who use an app called CBP Home to tell the government they plan to return home will be “deprioritized” for detention and removal by immigration enforcement.
“If you are here illegally, self-deportation is the best, safest and most cost-effective way to leave the United States to avoid arrest. DHS is now offering illegal aliens financial travel assistance and a stipend to return to their home country through the CBP Home App,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said.
The stipend and airfare for people 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 the DHS.
Trump took office in January pledging to deport millions of people but so far has trailed deportations under his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden. Biden’s administration faced high levels of undocumented immigration and quickly returned many people caught crossing the border.
The Trump administration has deported 152,000 people since it took office on January 20, according to the DHS, lower than the 195,000 deported from February to April last year under Biden.
Trump’s administration has tried to encourage migrants and asylum seekers to leave voluntarily by threatening steep fines, trying to strip away legal status, and deporting people to prisons in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and El Salvador.
Trump previewed the stipend plan in April, saying the US would consider allowing migrants and asylum seekers 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, the DHS said people who choose to leave “may help preserve” the ability to return legally but did not cite any specific pathway or programme.