US offers $1,000 stipend to encourage migrants to self-deport

WASHINGTON: The Trump administration will offer a $1,000 stipend and travel assistance to migrants who elect to voluntarily "self-deport" from the U.S., the Department of Homeland Security said on Monday.

The stipend and potential airfare for migrants who voluntarily depart would cost less than an actual deportation, the agency said. The average cost of arresting, detaining and deporting someone without legal status is currently about $17,000, according to DHS.

President Donald Trump, a Republican, took office in January pledging to deport millions of people but so far has trailed deportations under his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden. Biden's administration faced high levels of illegal immigration and quickly returned many caught crossing the border.

The Trump administration has deported 152,000 people since January 20, according to DHS, lower than the 195,000 deported from February-April last year under Biden.

Trump's administration has tried to encourage migrants to leave voluntarily by threatening steep fines, trying to strip away legal status, and deporting migrants to notorious prisons in Guantanamo Bay and El Salvador.

"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.

In March, the administration launched a rebranded app called CBP Home to facilitate self-deportation. The app, previously called CBP One, was used by the Biden administration to allow migrants to enter the U.S. legally.

Trump previewed the stipend plan in April, saying the U.S. would consider allowing migrants to return.

"If they're good, if we want them back in, we're going to work with them to get them back in as quickly as we can," he said.

In the announcement on Monday, DHS said people who choose to leave "may help preserve" the ability to return legally, but did not cite any specific pathway or program.

The immigrant advocacy group Make the Road New York criticized the stipend program and said migrants considering the offer should consult with an attorney.

Natalia Aristizabal, the group's deputy director, called the program "cruel" and "misleading" and said the Trump administration failed to note the barriers that many migrants would face to return to the U.S.