The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has tripled the financial incentive offered to undocumented migrants who voluntarily leave the United States, raising the so-called “exit bonus” from $1,000 to $3,000 under its self-deportation program.

Under the updated policy, migrants who register with the U.S. government and depart the country by the end of the calendar year will qualify for the payment.

DHS says eligible participants who leave by Dec. 31, 2025, will also receive free airfare to their home countries and have certain civil fines or penalties related to unlawful presence waived, provided they use the rebranded CBP Home app to self-deport.

The CBP Home smartphone application, modeled after the Biden administration’s CBP One platform, is now being used under the Trump administration to facilitate voluntary departures.

Migrants are instructed to signal their intent to leave through the app. DHS officials say that once eligibility is confirmed, participants will receive travel assistance and the $3,000 stipend after the government verifies they have exited the U.S.

In a statement to CBS News, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem warned that undocumented migrants who do not take advantage of the temporary incentive will be “found,” “arrested” and “never return” to the United States.

Originally created to schedule asylum appointments, the CBP One app has been overhauled as part of the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda. It now operates within a voluntary departure framework, allowing migrants without lawful status to report and track their exit from the country.

DHS says the increased stipend is part of a holiday-season campaign designed to speed up removals while reducing costs to taxpayers. According to the agency, providing travel assistance is typically far cheaper than traditional enforcement methods. As of May 2025, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement estimated that the average cost to arrest, detain and remove an undocumented migrant stands at about $17,000.

As part of the self-deportation initiative, DHS says participants are deprioritized for ICE arrest and detention as long as they show “meaningful strides” toward leaving the U.S. However, officials have not released detailed guidance on how long that protection lasts or how compliance is measured.

While ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection arrests remain the most visible elements of the administration’s immigration crackdown, President Trump has also pushed policies aimed at encouraging families and unaccompanied children who entered the country without authorization to self-deport.

In October, the U.S. government announced plans to offer migrant teenagers a $2,500 stipend to voluntarily return to their home countries, CBS News previously reported.

DHS claims that since January 2025, about 1.9 million undocumented immigrants have “voluntarily self-deported,” with “tens of thousands” doing so through the CBP Home program. Those figures have not been independently verified by CBS News, and DHS has not publicly released detailed data showing how many migrants received government-funded travel or stipends compared to those who left on their own.

Internal government figures previously obtained by CBS News indicate that during the first six months of President Trump’s second term, nearly 150,000 people were deported, while about 13,000 were recorded as having self-deported. (Vanguard)

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