DHS increases offer for undocumented migrants to $3,000 if they voluntarily leave by end of 2025

The Department of Homeland Security has tripled its “exit bonus” for undocumented migrants who voluntarily depart the United States through self-deportation, increasing the financial incentive from $1,000 to $3,000 for those who register with the U.S. government and depart the country by the end of the calendar year. 

DHS says all qualified participants who leave by Dec. 31, 2025, will also receive free airfare to their home countries and be waived of certain civil fines or penalties tied to remaining illegally in the U.S., if they voluntarily self-deport using the rebranded CBP Home app. The smartphone app is modeled off the Biden administration’s CBP One platform. 

Under the Trump administration’s policy, migrants are instructed to use the platform to signal their intent to depart. If determined to be eligible, DHS officials say they will receive travel assistance plus the $3,000 paid stipend once the U.S. government confirms the individual has left the country. 

In a statement to CBS News, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says that those who do not take advantage of the temporary incentive will be “found,” “arrested” and “never return” to the U.S.

The CBP One app was originally built under the previous administration to schedule asylum appointments, but under the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda, it has been remodeled under a voluntary departure framework to permit those without lawful status to track their exit.

DHS says the bonus stipend is part of a holiday season campaign aimed at accelerating removals and reducing taxpayer costs, with travel support typically considered less expensive than traditional detention and deportation operations. As of May 2025, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement estimated the average cost to arrest, detain and remove an undocumented migrant is approximately $17,000.

As part of the self-deportation program, DHS says participants are deprioritized for ICE arrest and detention so long as they demonstrate “meaningful strides” toward leaving the U.S., though officials have not released detailed guidance explaining how long that protection lasts or how any compliance is judged.

While ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection arrests nationwide are largely considered the most visible arm of the Trump administration’s sweeping immigration crackdown, the president has simultaneously pushed to compel self-deportation of families and unaccompanied children who entered the country without permission.

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

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

According to internal government figures previously obtained by CBS News, over the first six months of President Trump’s second term, the administration deported nearly 150,000 people and recorded 13,000 who self-deported.