The stipend will be paid to the beneficiaries “once their return to their country of origin has been confirmed.”
EFE (via 14ymedio), Washington, 5 May 2025 — The United States will offer financial assistance to facilitate the return of undocumented immigrants to their countries and an additional $1,000 stipend to those who choose to self-deport, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced Monday.
The DHS detailed in a statement that the assistance will be channeled through the rebranded CBP Home app and that, in the case of the stipend, it will be paid to recipients “once their return to their country of origin has been confirmed.”
“Self-deportation is a dignified way to leave the U.S. and will allow undocumented aliens to avoid being intercepted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),” DHS said.
According to the department, a Honduran man who purchased a ticket from Chicago to his native Honduras was the first to successfully use this travel assistance program. “Additional tickets have already been booked for this week and next,” the statement said.
“Participating in CBP Home’s self-deportation program can help preserve an undocumented alien’s ability to legally re-enter the U.S. in the future.”
Undocumented immigrants who express their decision to voluntarily self-deport through CBP Home – an update to the Biden Administration’s (2021-2025) CBP One app – will no longer be at the top of ICE’s raid list, “as long as they demonstrate that they are making significant progress in completing that departure.”
“Participating in the CBP Home self-removal program can help preserve an undocumented alien’s ability to legally reenter the U.S. in the future,” DHS warned
The Trump administration has moved swiftly to fulfill the president’s promises to carry out the largest deportation campaign in the country’s history.
The multiple arrests and raids against illegal immigrants since Trump took office last January have drawn sharp criticism from the Republican’s detractors and pro-immigrant organizations.
“If you are here undocumented, self-deportation is the best, safest, and most cost-effective way to leave the United States and avoid arrest,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem added in the statement.
“We’re going to pay each of you a certain amount of money, and we’re going to get you a nice flight back.”
Using the financial assistance program will also represent a 70% savings for American taxpayers, Noem insisted.
Currently, the average cost of arresting, detaining, and deporting an undocumented foreigner is $17,121, according to official data.
Trump on Monday highlighted the benefits of the aid program for those “illegally in the U.S.” who choose to self-deport, while criticizing what he called Biden’s “open borders” policy.
“We’re going to pay each of them a certain amount of money, and we’re going to get them a nice flight home (…). They have a period of time (to complete the application for return travel assistance), and if they do, we’re going to work with them so that maybe someday, they can come back if they’re good people,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
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