Trump administration offers $1,000 to migrants who self-deport

The Trump administration announced Monday it would give migrants a $1,000 payment if they “self-deport” using a government app.

The announcement from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) called the funds a way to “facilitate travel back to their home country” that will be paid once their return has been confirmed through the CBP Home app.

It’s an unusual strategy but one the Trump administration argues could save money, pegging the current cost of arrest, detention and removal of migrants at more than $17,000.

“Self-deportation is a dignified way to leave the U.S. and will allow illegal aliens to avoid being encountered by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),” the DHS said in a press release.

“Illegal aliens submitting their intent to voluntarily self-deport in CBP Home will also be deprioritized for detention and removal ahead of their departure as long as they demonstrate they are making meaningful strides in completing that departure,” the department added.

The app’s webpage says the government can “assist in booking tickets and/or with obtaining necessary travel documentation” and estimates that, once approved, migrants would typically depart the U.S. within three weeks.

The CBP Home app is a redesign of the Biden administration’s CBP One app, which allowed migrants to make an appointment at a port of entry for those seeking to make an initial claim of asylum.

“The CBP Home mobile app allows aliens to plan your return, including having an opportunity to depart in a timely manner – allowing aliens to wrap up work, school, and personal matters and organize their return in an orderly and lawful way,” the site says.

It also nods to the climate of anxiety for migrants as President Trump has promised the largest mass deportation operation in history, saying the program offers “flexibility, not fear.”

In the first 100 days of the administration, the Trump team boasted of deporting more than 135,000 people — a group that also includes Venezuelan and Salvadoran men sent to a Salvadoran prison with no opportunity to contest claims there were gang members.