The Trump administration is now incentivizing illegal immigrants to leave the country by offering a four-figure government subsidy to cover travel costs of leaving the United States.
Illegal immigrants who choose to use the government phone app CBP Home to self-deport to their home country are now eligible for a $1,000 payment once they are confirmed to have made it back home, the Department of Homeland Security announced Monday.
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“If you are here illegally, self-deportation is the best, safest and most cost-effective way to leave the United States to avoid arrest,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement. “DHS is now offering illegal aliens financial travel assistance and a stipend to return to their home country through the CBP Home App.”
The DHS added that self-deportation poses a “dignified way” for people to leave the U.S. rather than being targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.
Noem added that although the government incurs some cost when illegal immigrants self-deport, it will still save significantly more than the government facilitating the deportation and is the “safest” option for law enforcement rather than going into communities and arresting people.
At present, it costs federal law enforcement an average of $17,121 to arrest, detain, and then remove one person.
One Honduran immigrant illegally living in the U.S. has already taken advantage of the program to cover the cost of travel from Chicago to Honduras. Additional tickets for other self-deportations have been booked this and next week, according to the DHS.
Additionally, any immigrants who inform the government of their plans to leave the country will be a low priority for ICE officers to arrest.
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On President Donald Trump’s first day in office, authorities disabled a government phone app, CBP One, which the Biden administration used to parole hundreds of thousands of people into the country. Weeks later, Customs and Border Protection debuted the CBP Home app, which allowed immigrants to alert the agency of plans to leave the country.
The Trump administration cited the Alien Registration Act of 1940, known as the Smith Act, which was enacted amid World War II. While it has been in effect for over 80 years, the DHS re-upped the requirement, which requires illegal immigrants in the country to register with the government or face steep penalties.