White House officials are promising that the next chartered flight of self-deporting illegal immigrants will depart soon.
“I think it’s great, and you’ll see a lot more of them,” Tom Homan, President Donald Trump‘s “border czar,” told the Washington Examiner on Tuesday.
There were only 64 passengers on the maiden flight chartered for the Trump administration program under which migrants receive a free flight home and a $1,000 stipend, which was announced in March. The first flight departed from Houston on Monday morning before arriving in Honduras and Colombia later that day, with the migrants on board disembarking in their respective home countries.
Homan remained adamant that there is “a lot of self-deportation” and reiterated that fewer people are trying to cross the border illegally.
“We’re planning it right now,” the White House executive associate director of enforcement and removal operations added when asked whether the next flight would be in weeks or months.
Homan defended the cost of the program, increased by the chartered flights, contending “the cost-savings are going nuts for American taxpayers.”
“The cost of schools, the cost of hospitals, the cost of all those social services they take advantage,” he said. “We got over a million people on welfare. The cost-saving to the American people is going to be extraordinary. It’s a lot cheaper if people self-remove than us going through the whole process.”
For instance, Homan cited “the man-hours spent to arrest that one person” and “the salaries and operational costs,” including transportation, detention, and flights.
“This program gives them an opportunity to make arrangements, get their affairs together, and we’re paying for removal costs,” he said. “It’s going to save this country billions of dollars.”
Homan similarly dismissed the argument that paying migrants to self-deport incentivizes them to recross the border illegally.
During the press conference with reporters outside the West Wing, Homan also expressed surprise when asked for his response to a report that the Department of Homeland Security was considering a proposal to produce a reality show on which migrants compete for citizenship.
“What?” he said. “I don’t know about that.”
SEVEN IN 10 VOTERS THINK US-CANADA BORDER NEEDS MORE SECURITY: POLL
Earlier on Monday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem encouraged illegal immigrants to apply for the program using the Customs and Border Protection former President Joe Biden‘s administration introduced to help migrants apply for asylum. Trump has repeated that those who apply for the program could return to the United States in the future.
“If you are here illegally, use the CBP Home App to take control of your departure and receive financial support to return home,” she said. “If you don’t, you will be subjected to fines, arrest, deportation, and will never be allowed to return.”