SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras — On Monday, the United States returned 68 immigrants from Honduras and Colombia on the first flight funded by the government, part of what the Trump administration is referring to as voluntary deportations.

In San Pedro Sula, a city in northern Honduras, 38 Hondurans, including 19 children, got off the charter flight. They received $1,000 debit cards from the U.S. government along with an offer to potentially apply one day for legal entry into the U.S.

U.S. President Donald Trump has vowed to boost deportation numbers significantly. Experts suggest the option of self-deportation might only attract a minority of migrants who were already contemplating returning but is unlikely to create high demand. This initiative is being promoted alongside notable detention of migrants in the U.S. and the transfer of a few hundred Venezuelan migrants to a high-security prison in El Salvador.

Kevin Antonio Posadas, from Tegucigalpa, had lived in Houston for three years, but had already been considering a return to Honduras when the Trump administration announced its offer.

“I wanted to see my family and my mom,” said Posadas, who added that the process was easy.

“You just apply (through the CBP Home app ) and in three days you’ve got it,” he said. The flight left Houston early Monday. “It’s good because you save the cost of the flight if you have the intention of leaving.”

Posadas said he hadn’t feared deportation and liked living in the U.S., but had been thinking for some time about going home. He said eventually he would consider taking up the U.S. government’s offer of allowing those who self-deport to apply to enter the United States legally.

In a statement about the flight Monday, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said, “If you are here illegally, use the CBP Home App to take control of your departure and receive financial support to return home. If you don’t, you will be subjected to fines, arrest, deportation and will never be allowed to return.”

Twenty-six more migrants aboard the flight were headed home to Colombia, according to a U.S. Department of Homeland Security statement.

Honduras Deputy Foreign Minister Antonio García said the Honduran government would also support the returning migrants with $100 cash and another $200 credit at a government-run store that sells basic necessities.

Among the migrants arriving voluntarily Monday were four children who were born in the United States, García said.

García, who met the arriving migrants at the airport, said they told him that being in the U.S. without documents required for legal immigration or residence had been increasingly difficult, that things were growing more hostile and they feared going to work.

Still, the number of Hondurans deported from the U.S. so far this year is below last year’s pace, said Honduras immigration director Wilson Paz.

While about 13,500 Hondurans have been deported from the U.S. this year, the figure stood at more than 15,000 by this time in 2024, Paz said.

He didn’t expect the number to accelerate much, despite the Trump administration’s intentions.

Some would continue applying to self-deport, because they feel like their time in the U.S. is up or because it’s getting harder to work, he said.

“I don’t think it will be thousands of people who apply for the program,” Paz said. “Our responsibility is that they come in an orderly fashion and we support them.”

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González reported from Tegucigalpa, Honduras.