DHS offers undocumented migrants $3,000 Christmas | Political News

The Department of Homeland Security announced it will now offer $3,000 for undocumented immigrants who “self-deport” back to their home international locations during the vacations. 

The vacation stipend, which also contains a free flight home, will reportedly be accessible from now until the end of the 12 months, the division announced. Interested immigrants must use the  CBP Home app to qualify for the stipend and be forgiven of any “civil fines or penalties for failing to depart the country.” 

“Since January 2025, 1.9 million illegal aliens have voluntarily self-deported and tens of thousands have used the CBP Home program. 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,” said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

“illegal aliens ought to take benefit of this reward and self-deport because if they don’t, we are going to discover them, we are going to arrest them, and they may never return,” she added. 

The recent announcement comes amid a rebranding of the CBP One app, a platform established during the Biden era to facilitate the legal entry of immigrants into the country. 

Now, the CBP Home app is a tool used by the Trump administration to facilitate its immigration enforcement and deportation processes. In fact, the administration has repeatedly marketed “self-deportation” as a “dignified” way to leave the country, and hence, it should be the preferred method for undocumented immigrants. 

According to the program’s website, which launched in May, it provides immigrants the chance to “return home as common vacationers— without arrest, detention, or restraints. It’s a protected, orderly different that gives help and flexibility, not concern.”  

If migrants utilize that resource, they are deprioritized for ICE arrest and detention, as long as they demonstrate “significant strides” toward leaving the country. According to DHS, using the app “permits unlawful aliens to plan their return, including having an alternative to depart in a well timed method— permitting unlawful aliens to wrap up work, faculty, and personal issues and manage their return in an orderly and lawful manner.” 

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When the program launched, it offered eligible migrants $1,000 to return home, although it remains unclear how many people actually used the platform and subsequently received the payments. 

For the department, that sum would be beneficial, as the average cost to apprehend, detain, and deport an individual is approximately $17,000, according to a DHS report from May. 

Now, as Christmas approaches, DHS is taking any available opportunity to cash in on the holiday, ramping up its anti-immigration rhetoric through a series of online Christmas-themed posts. On Friday, it shared a montage of Christmas scenes, including from celebrated movies like “Elf,” “The Santa Clause,” and “Die Hard,” captioned “our hearts grow as our unlawful population shrinks.” 

The increased rhetoric has led Catholic leaders to denounce mass deportations. In one Massachusetts church, a nativity scene replaced statues of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph with a sign that read, “ICE was right here.” In another one in Illinois, a sign that read “due to ICE exercise in our neighborhood, the Holy Family is hiding,” was in the place of the spiritual figures.