The Trump administration announced on Monday a new incentive program offering a $1,000 stipend and travel assistance to undocumented migrants who choose to voluntarily leave the United States.
According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the initiative aims to reduce the financial burden of formal deportation, which currently costs taxpayers around $17,000 per individual, including arrest, detention, and removal.
“This is the most efficient and humane approach to reduce the number of undocumented individuals,” said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. “If you are here illegally, self-deportation is the best, safest, and most cost-effective way to leave the United States to avoid arrest.”
Since President Donald Trump returned to office on January 20, his administration has deported approximately 152,000 people, according to DHS figures. That number falls short of the 195,000 deportations recorded from February to April last year under President Joe Biden’s administration, which had responded to record levels of unauthorized border crossings.
The Trump administration has been actively promoting voluntary departure through a mix of incentives and deterrents, including steep fines and legal status revocation. In more controversial moves, some deportees were transferred to high-security prisons in Guantanamo Bay and El Salvador.
The administration also launched a redesigned mobile app in March, now called CBP Home, to streamline the self-deportation process. The app, previously known as CBP One, had been used during Biden’s term to manage legal immigration applications.
Trump first hinted at the stipend plan in April. “If they’re good people and we want them back, we’ll work with them to bring them in as quickly as we can,” he said, referring to migrants who choose to leave and potentially reapply for legal entry.
