Trump Administration To Pay Illegal Immigrants Sh129,250 To Leave The Country

Pushing forward with its mass deportation agenda, President Donald Trump’s administration announced on Monday that it would offer ksh129,250 to immigrants who are in the United States illegally if they voluntarily return to their home countries.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) stated that it would also provide travel assistance. Immigrants who use the CBP Home app to notify the government of their intention to leave would be “deprioritized” for detention and removal by immigration enforcement.

“If you are here illegally, self-deportation is the best, safest and most cost-effective way to leave the United States to avoid arrest,” said Secretary Kristi Noem. “DHS is now offering illegal aliens financial travel assistance and a stipend to return to their home country through the CBP Home App.”

DHS reported that it had already funded a plane ticket for one migrant returning to Honduras from Chicago, with more tickets booked for the upcoming weeks.

This initiative is a key part of Trump’s administration, which has made immigration enforcement and mass deportations a cornerstone of its policies. However, these efforts have proven costly and resource-intensive.

While the administration has requested Congress for a significant increase in funding for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) department, it is also pushing people in the U.S. illegally to “self-deport.”

This push is paired with TV ads and social media images showing immigration enforcement actions, including arrests and deportations.

Strategy for future legal re-entry

The Trump administration frames self-deportation as a way for migrants to potentially return to the U.S. legally in the future. Trump himself suggested that those who leave voluntarily and are “good people” might be able to return legally later on.

However, Aaron Reichlen-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, raised concerns. He pointed out that leaving without contesting a case in immigration court could result in an automatic deportation order, jeopardizing migrants’ chances of obtaining asylum or other relief.

Reichlen-Melnick questioned whether DHS was coordinating with immigration courts to ensure no negative consequences for migrants already in proceedings. He also noted that the offer could be a way to encourage voluntary deportation, as the administration struggles to meet its deportation goals.

The Trump administration has repurposed the CBP One app, originally used by the Biden administration to schedule migrant entries into the U.S., into a tool for voluntary departures. Now called CBP Home, the app helps migrants arrange their return trips.

DHS reports that “thousands” of migrants have used the app to self-deport.

Mark Krikorian, head of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for reduced immigration, viewed the offer as a practical way to encourage voluntary returns, acknowledging the difficulty of deporting millions of illegal immigrants. While Krikorian supported the idea, he questioned how it would be enforced.

“How do you make sure that they’ve actually gone home? Do you make them sign an agreement not to challenge their removal if they were to come back?” he asked.

Voluntary return programs have been used globally in various forms. Governments favor them because they are cheaper than detaining and deporting migrants through formal channels. The DHS estimates it costs2,210,109 Ksh to arrest, detain, and remove an illegal immigrant, while paying for a ticket and incentives is far less expensive.

Additionally, voluntary returns do not require complex government-to-government negotiations for deportations, which can sometimes be a barrier, especially when countries are reluctant to accept their own citizens back.

A 2011 study by the Migration Policy Institute found about 128 voluntary return programs worldwide. However, most of these programs have failed to encourage large-scale participation. Few exceptions include a successful program in the 1990s that returned migrants from Germany to Bosnia, but most programs saw limited success and struggled to prevent migrants from attempting to emigrate again.

While the Trump administration’s offer to pay migrants to leave voluntarily may seem like an effective way to reduce the strain on U.S. immigration enforcement, its success remains unclear. The program may help ease resource constraints, but it also raises concerns about fairness and long-term effectiveness, especially for those already engaged in immigration proceedings.

As the administration moves forward with its mass deportation plans, the true impact of voluntary return offers remains to be seen.