The US government will offer illegal migrants a $1,000 stipend and free commercial airfare if they voluntarily leave the country, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on Monday.
The policy allows eligible individuals to signal their intent to depart via the CBP Home app. Participants will be deprioritized for detention and, upon confirmation of their voluntary departure, will receive the financial incentive.
President Donald Trump emphasized the benefits of the program, stating that some participants might be eligible to return legally in the future. “We’re going to work with them so that maybe someday, with a little work, they can come back in – if they’re good people, if they’re the kind of people that we want in our country, industrious people that love our country,” he said during a White House event on Monday.
“And if they’re not, they won’t… If they miss that limit, they’re going to be taken out of our country, and they will never get a path to come back in. And it’ll be a much tougher process,” Trump warned.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem described the initiative as the “best, safest, and most cost-effective way” for undocumented immigrants to avoid arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), urging them to “download the CBP Home App TODAY and self-deport.”
DHS estimates that traditional deportation procedures cost taxpayers an average of $17,121 per individual. In contrast, the self-deportation program is projected to reduce costs by approximately 70%, lowering the average expense to about $4,500 per person – even after accounting for the stipend and travel assistance.