Illegal immigrants who self-deport will receive a $1,000 stipend under a plan that the Trump administration says will protect law enforcement and save American tax dollars, the Department of Homeland Security announced on Monday.
Along with giving illegal immigrants a $1,000 stipend, Fox News reported that the Trump administration would also pay for the cost of airfare. The total cost for the stipend and airfare would be around $4,500 on average, a significant reduction from the estimated $17,000 it costs the federal government to detain and deport an illegal immigrant, according to DHS, which added that illegal immigrants would not receive the stipend until it was verified that they had left the United States.
“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 Secretary Kristi Noem wrote on X. “DHS is now offering illegal aliens financial travel assistance and a stipend to return to their home country through the CBP Home App.”
“This is the safest option for our law enforcement, aliens and is a 70% savings for US taxpayers,” Noem added. “Download the CBP Home App TODAY and self-deport.”
If you are here illegally, self-deportation is the best, safest and most cost effective way to leave the United States to avoid arrest.
DHS is now offering illegal aliens financial travel assistance and a stipend to return to their home country through the CBP Home App.
This is… pic.twitter.com/2f02wLWQi5
— Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) May 5, 2025
The CBP Home App, initially launched as the CBP One App under the first Trump administration to help with truck inspections at the border, was repurposed by the Biden administration to help migrants claim asylum in the United States. Under the new Trump administration, the app is being used mainly to help illegal immigrants return to their home countries as President Donald Trump focuses on his deportation operation.
According to Fox News, DHS acknowledged the concerns of some critics who argue that the $1,000 stipends reward those who illegally entered the country. The DHS, however, argued that the initiative’s cost-cutting function and the overall goal of mass deportations are justifiable reasons to pay illegal immigrants to leave the United States.
Last month, the department said it would fine illegal immigrants nearly $1,000 a day if they remain in the United States beyond their removal date. The fines would also be retroactive, stretching back up to five years and hitting some illegal immigrants with more than $1 million in fines. Trump wants Customs and Border Protection to administer the penalties and seize the property of those who cannot pay.
At the end of March, the Trump administration said it had deported more than 100,000 illegal immigrants since Trump was sworn in on January 20. The administration has said it is focused on going after illegal immigrants who are accused of being violent gang members, sending them to a notorious prison in El Salvador. Trump has been celebrating his action on deportations, placing mug shots of arrested illegal immigrants along the White House driveway last week.
