The Trump administration unveiled a new initiative on Monday, offering undocumented immigrants a $1,000 payment to voluntarily return to their home countries.

Undocumented immigrants in the U.S. can access "financial and travel assistance" to voluntarily leave the country by utilizing the revamped U.S. Customs and Border Protection Home app.

The Department of Homeland Security announced the program as part of a broader effort to reduce illegal immigration and cut deportation costs by an estimated 70%.

The average cost of arrest, detention, and deportation is $17,121 per individual, according to DHS.

One person has reportedly already participated, receiving a plane ticket from Chicago to Honduras, with additional tickets booked.

The CBP Home app, a rebranded version of the Biden-era CBP One app, was originally designed to allow migrants to schedule asylum appointments at the U.S.-Mexico border.

On January 20, 2025, President Trump halted CBP One, canceling thousands of appointments, leaving approximately 270,000 migrants stranded in Mexico.

The app now facilitates self-deportation, with DHS confirming payments only after individuals return home and verify their departure.

Participants are deprioritized for detention if they show progress toward leaving.

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

"This is the safest option for our law enforcement, aliens and is a 70% savings for U.S. taxpayers."

DHS claims participation "may help preserve the option" for future legal re-entry, but critics warn this is misleading.

"It is an incredibly cruel bit of deception for DHS to be telling people that if they leave they ‘will maintain the ability to return to the US legally in the future,'" said Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council. “Many people who might see this as an option would be put in a WORSE OFF legal position. So this is a TRAP."

The program aligns with Trump’s campaign promise of mass deportations, supported by executive orders framing illegal immigration as a national security threat and an "invasion."

Since January 20, 2025, Trump has deployed 1,500 active-duty troops to the southern border, expanded expedited removals nationwide, and ended asylum access via Biden's CBP One.

The president also reinstated the "Remain in Mexico" policy and paused the U.S. refugee resettlement program.

Six months into President Trump’s second term, his administration has sharply reduced illegal border crossings compared to the first six months of Joe Biden’s term in 2021.

However, Trump’s measures, including executive orders and military deployment, have sparked significant judicial pushback, with federal judges blocking key initiatives over constitutional concerns.

In the first six months of 2025, Trump’s administration recorded approximately 50,000 apprehensions at the southwest border, a 93% drop from the 700,000 encounters during Biden’s initial six months in 2021, according to Customs and Border Protection data.

Biden’s early 2021 policies focused on reversing Trump’s first-term restrictions, including ending the “Remain in Mexico” program and pausing deportations for 100 days.

These moves coincided with a surge in crossings, peaking at 172,000 apprehensions in March 2021.

Biden maintained Title 42, a public health measure allowing rapid expulsions, but faced criticism for releasing 3.3 million migrants into the U.S. interior between 2021 and 2023.

While Biden deported 271,000 immigrants in fiscal year 2024, most were border returns, not interior removals, unlike Trump’s focus on internal enforcement, with 32,809 ICE arrests in his first 50 days of 2025.

Trump’s administration claims a 99% reduction in “gotaways” — migrants evading detection — from Biden’s 2023 peak of 670,674 annually.

Trump’s immigration agenda has faced fierce resistance from federal courts.

In February 2025, Judge John Coughenour in Washington state blocked an executive order attempting to end birthright citizenship, stating, "I have difficulty understanding how a member of the bar could state unequivocally that this is a constitutional order. It boggles my mind."

A Texas federal judge rejected Trump’s use of the term "invasion" to justify military deployment at the border, ruling it inapplicable to immigration under the Constitution.

In March 2025, a California judge halted Trump’s attempt to withhold federal funding from sanctuary cities, citing violations of state sovereignty, though the Supreme Court agreed to review the case in May 2025.

The administration’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport alleged Venezuelan gang members without hearings drew sharp criticism. In April 2025, a federal judge in New York ruled the deportations unconstitutional, arguing they bypassed due process guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment.

The firing of dozens of immigration judges and the redirection of legal aid funding for unaccompanied minors further escalated tensions. The National Immigrant Justice Center reported disruptions in court proceedings for 3.6 million backlogged cases.

Trump’s policies have polarized public opinion.

A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll showed 45% approval for his immigration approach, with 60% supporting increased deportations, but late April polls indicated growing unease with enforcement tactics, particularly family separations.

Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, have labeled Trump’s asylum ban “a cruel and ineffective policy that violates our international obligations."

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez contends the self-deportation program is "a bribe to uproot families."

The ACLU and 22 Democratic-led states have filed lawsuits challenging Trump’s asylum restrictions and expedited removal expansions, arguing that the measures endanger refugees and violate international law.