Trump administration reportedly targets unaccompanied minor migrants to self-deport with $2,500i Incentive Program

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is reportedly offering unaccompanied minors $2,500 if they voluntarily leave the U.S. and return to their home countries, according to multiple reports.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) informed migrant shelters that teenagers 14 years or older could self-deport and claim the financial incentive if they respond to the offer within 24 hours, according to an email obtained by The Associated Press (AP). The Trump administration had already planned to offer incentives for illegal migrants to self-deport, including a $1,000 stipend and flight assistance.

“ICE and the Office of Refugee and Resettlement at HHS are offering a strictly voluntary option to return home to their families. This voluntary option gives UACs [unaccompanied alien children] a choice and allows them to make an informed decision about their future,” an ICE spokesperson told CNN.

The offer would initially be for 17-year-olds, ICE told AP in a statement. The email to shelters did not indicate there would be consequences for minors who didn’t accept the offer, according to the outlet. There were over 2,000 migrant children in the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services as of Oct. 2, according to agency data.

“Any payment to support a return home would be provided after an immigration judge grants the request and the individual arrives in their country of origin,” ICE told AP. “Access to financial support when returning home would assist should they choose that option.”

President Donald Trump campaigned on cracking down on illegal migration. DHS subsequently announced that over two million illegal migrants have self-deported or “been removed” from the U.S. in the first 250 days of Trump’s second term.

Notably, the agency also said the ongoing federal government shutdown will not impede its large-scale deportation efforts.

“Despite a lapse in funding, ICE will continue to remove the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens including rapists, pedophiles, murderers, gang members and terrorists from our country,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement previously obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation (DCNF). “Thanks to the Trump Administration’s signature piece of legislation, the One Big Beautiful Bill, we will continue to hire, train, and deploy law enforcement across the country to make America safe again.”

DHS did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

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