WASHINGTON — Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Monday announced a special $3,000-a-pop “home for the holidays” incentive for illegal migrants to self-deport by Dec. 31.
“This Christmas season, the U.S. taxpayer is generously TRIPLING the incentive for illegal aliens to leave voluntarily,” the DHS secretary tweeted.
“Through the end of the year, illegal aliens who self-deport using the CBP Home App can receive a $3,000 exit bonus.”
Homeland Secrutiy Secretary Kristi Noem is offering a $3,000 holiday “bonus” to illegal migrants who self-deport before the end of the year. REUTERS
Volunteers with the migrant support group Danbury Unites help people “self-deport” with their children in October. Getty ImagesSince President Trump took office in January 2025, 1.9 million illegal migrants have voluntarily self-deported, according to the DHS. It is unclear, however, how many of those migrants used the CBP Home App and received financial assistance.
Noem, appearing earlier on Fox News, urged migrants living in the US without legal permission to use the CBP Home app to take advantage of the offer, which also includes a free one-way flight.
“Well, it’s home for the holidays season!” Noem said.
“If you voluntarily want to go home now to your country … we will give you $3,000 through the holidays to send you home, we’ll buy you a ticket, give you $3,000 to go home,” she said.
“We’ll make sure you get home in time for Christmas.”
The Department of Homeland Security began offering a $1,000 bonus and free travel for CBP Home users in May — reasoning that it was cheaper than the average cost of $17,121 to arrest, detain and deport illegal migrants.
Authorities say takers may be able to return to the US legally, while asserting that those who are involuntarily deported won’t be eligible to do so.
Undocumented Ecuadorian mother Andrea and her 7-month-old daughter, Shanell, sleep on a flight back to Ecuador in October after her husband was deported. Getty Images
Andrea, 28, holds her baby while waiting inside the Ecuadorian Consulate in New York City in October to apply for emergency passports before self-deporting. Getty ImagesThe move comes as President Trump’s administration pursues a mass deportation drive that he promised as a candidate in last year’s election.
Trump has blamed the influx of asylum seekers and illegal border-crossers under the Biden administration for causing rent prices to spike and has pointed to rising blue-collar wages as evidence that his deportation efforts are working.
The Trump administration generally highlights the arrests of illegal migrants who have criminal histories, while critics point to cases where the subjects didn’t have convictions.
