US offers illegal migrants $3,000 exit bonus for voluntary deportation
The United States Department of Homeland Security has said that immigrants living in the US illegally will be paid $3,000 if they leave the country voluntarily by the end of 2025.
The limited-time incentive to undocumented migrants willing to voluntarily leave the country during the holiday season, is a triple of the exit bonus currently paid to those who self-deport.
The Department wrote on its website on Monday that undocumented migrants who apply for self-deportation through the CBP Home app by the end of the year, will, in addition to a free flight to their home country, get a $3,000 stipend.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said that undocumented migrants who don’t self-deport will be found, arrested and “will never return”.
The increased payment has been termed a “limited time offer”, as part of the holiday season campaign aimed at accelerating the deportation of illegals in the country. A poster released by Homeland Security warned that it was checking names off its naughty list, warning illegals not to be caught unawares.
The program also qualifies illegal migrants for amnesty towards fines or penalties related to failure to leave the United States.
DHS said about 1.9 million undocumented migrants have voluntarily left the country since January 2025, with many employing the CBP Home program route.
“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 US 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,” DHS Secretary 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,” Noem added.
“Project Homecoming” was established in May 2025 through the instrumentality of the US President Donald Trump. “The American people are generously offering illegal aliens $1,000 and a free flight to self-deport now,” it had announced in May.
While the State Department has repurposed the $250 million intended to help resettle refugees to pay for flights and exit bonuses, undocumented migrants refusing to take advantage of the offer have been warned by the State Department of impending arrest and deportation, alongside permanent restrictions from travelling into the US.
