(The Center Square) – Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem raised her incentives on Monday for illegal migrants who volunteer to return home before the end of the year as part of a program to lower deportation costs for taxpayers.
Noem had a new offer of $3,000 stipend and free flight home if they sign up to self-deport through the CBP Home app by the end of the year. That’s up from a previous offer of $1,000.
She said 1.9 million illegal aliens have voluntarily self-deported, including tens of thousands who used the CBP Home program since January.
“During the Christmas Season, the U.S. taxpayer is so generously TRIPLING the incentive to leave voluntarily for those in this country illegally – offering a $3,000 exit bonus, but just until the end of the year,” Noem said. “Illegal aliens should take advantage of this gift and self-deport because if they don’t, we will find them, we will arrest them, and they will never return.”
Self-deportation is less expensive than average cost to arrest, detain, and remove an illegal alien. That average stands at $17,121 per person. Even with the cost of the stipend, DHS projected that the use of CBP Home will decrease the costs of a deportation by around 70%, according to a DHS report.
DHS officials didn’t immediately respond to questions from The Center Square on the costs of the enhanced stipends or the total costs of the program.
Noem first announced the stipend and taxpayer-funded self-deportation plan in April after the administration reached agreements with countries to accept the returning citizens.
In May, DHS launched Project Homecoming, using chartered flights to return people and families, including young children, to their home countries. DHS began offering $1,000 stipends and U.S. taxpayer-funded flights to eligible nonviolent foreign nationals.