The Trump administration is currently offering teen migrants a $2,500 stipend to leave the United States voluntarily, as reported by several sources referencing a letter issued Friday by the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of Refugee Resettlement to facilities providing shelter to migrant children.
According to the letter that Reuters and other media outlets reviewed, the department will grant a single “resettlement support stipend of $2,500” to unaccompanied children aged 14 or older.
While Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) did not verify the monetary specifics to Fox News Digital, they acknowledged that Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) may receive financial assistance if they opt to return home.
Last month, DHS announced that two million illegal immigrants “have been removed or have self-deported” from the United States since Jan. 20, positioning the Trump administration to potentially establish new records.
Within less than 250 days, approximately 1.6 million illegal immigrants voluntarily self-deported, and 400,000 were removed by federal law enforcement, according to DHS, marking the situation as a “new milestone.”
In May, Trump enacted an executive order creating the first-ever self-deportation program, which offers incentives for illegal migrants to voluntarily exit the country with the provision of a free flight and monetary incentive.
Homeland Security said that migrants were being offered a $1,000 stipend each to leave. The department said it is 70% cheaper for American taxpayers, as it currently costs DHS, on average, over $17,000 to arrest, detain and deport someone.
In June, the State Department moved $250 million to DHS for voluntary deportations.
A migrant pulls his suitcase through Logan International Airport’s Terminal E before boarding a flight home. (Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
Shaina Aber, the executive director of the Acacia Center for Justice, a nonprofit that provides legal defense to immigrants, said in a statement that the $2,500 stipend undermines due process and may expose children to renewed trafficking cycles.
She said some of these children were trafficked into the U.S., often by cartels or smugglers, and if they are sent back without safeguards, they could fall back into the hands of the same traffickers.
“DHS’s message is confusing and seems to fly in the face of established laws and protocols that Congress passed to protect children from cyclical trafficking risks,” Aber said.
