The Trump administration offered one more major incentive for illegal migrants who choose to leave the U.S. of their own volition.
Illegal immigrants who choose to self-deport through the CBP Home app will not only be offered a free flight back to their home country and a $1,000 stipend, but also forgiveness of any fines incurred for failing to follow through on a previous deportation order, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The announcement comes as the Trump administration works to remove as many illegal migrants as possible in a cost-effective manner.
“If you are here illegally, use the CBP Home App to take control of your departure and receive financial support to return home,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a prepared statement.
“If you don’t, you will be subjected to fines, arrest, deportation and will never be allowed to return,” Noem continued. “If you are in this country illegally, self-deport NOW and preserve your opportunity to potentially return the legal, right way.”
Since President Donald Trump returned to office in January, his administration has incrementally established a carrot and stick approach to reach its goal of mass removal of illegal migrants.
The administration immediately nixed the Biden-era CBP One app, used to usher in mass applications for asylum, in March and replaced it with the CBP Home app, used for illegal migrants to declare their self-deportation. The updated app includes a feature that allows illegal migrants to “Submit Intent to Depart” and a link allowing users to submit details on their intention to leave and provide verification that they have left the country.
In February, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services unrolled a new registry for illegal migrants, requiring many to submit their personal information or else face financial penalties. An illegal migrant can be fined nearly $1,000 a day for not leaving the U.S. after a final deportation order or voluntary departure order.
The administration has since doled out more than 9,000 fine notices to illegal migrants, totaling nearly $3 billion in financial penalties, according to DHS.
In contrast to these deterrents, DHS in May announced an “historic opportunity” for illegal migrants who choose to leave on their own accord: a free flight home and a $1,00 stipend.
“If you are here illegally, self-deportation is the best, safest and most cost-effective way to leave the United States to avoid arrest,” Noem said at the time. “DHS is now offering illegal aliens financial travel assistance and a stipend to return to their home country through the CBP Home App.”
The moves are billed as a win-win for illegal migrants and an administration stretched thin with ambitious mass deportation goals. Illegal migrants are provided financial benefits and the avoidance of forced deportation, allowing them the opportunity to possibly return to the U.S. in the future, and federal immigration agents are spared from making another at-large arrest — a task that times considerable time and resources.
The average cost to apprehend, detain and remove a single illegal migrant is more than $17,000, according to DHS. The White House projects that use of the CBP Home app will lower deportation costs by roughly 70%, even when including the cost of the stipends.
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