“Illegal aliens”: Trump announces $1,000 stipend, travel assistance for immigrants if they “self-deport”

In a desperate push for US President Donald Trump's long-time immigration agenda, the White House announced on Monday that it would pay $1,000 to illegal immigrants who would be voluntarily returning to their home country. 

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) explained that it would also be paying for the travel assistance of those it called “illegal aliens”, but only if these immigrants were to use an application named 'CBP Home' to notify the government of their self-deportation plans, according to a press release on Monday. The release also added that immigrants who self-deported would be “deprioritised” 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 Secretary Kristi Noem said. 

“DHS is now offering illegal aliens financial travel assistance and a stipend to return to their home country through the CBP Home App.”

Explaining that the first illegal immigrant to self-deport had already reached Honduras, the DHS explained that the stipend and potential airfare for migrants who voluntarily departed would cost less than an actual deportation. The average cost of arresting, detaining and deporting someone without legal status is currently $17,121.

The CBP Home application (previously called CBP One), used by the Biden administration to allow migrants to enter the US legally, was rebranded in March to facilitate the opposite—the removal of those it deemed illegal immigrants. 

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Although the Trump administration presents self-deportation with the added benefit of allowing migrants the opportunity to be able to legally return to the United States at some point, those facing the likelihood of deportation ought to be cautious of the DHS' stipend offer, explained Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, in an Associated Press report.

He explained that it was often worse for migrants to leave the country and stop fighting their case in immigration courts, especially if they already were in removal proceedings, at which stage a self-deportation—despite being voluntary—could be treated as their absence, leading to a deportation order. He added that leaving the country also usually counted as an abandonment of relief applications.

He also questioned where the DHS might get the authorisation and the funds to pay enough people to voluntarily deport the country, so as to encourage others to do so.

“People’s immigration status is not as simple as this makes it out to be ... [The DHS are] not getting their numbers,” Reichlin-Melnick said.

The Trump administration has deported 152,000 people since January 20, according to the DHS.

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