The U.S. government is planning to give migrant teenagers a $2,500 stipend if they choose to return to their home countries voluntarily, the latest push by the Trump administration to encourage self-deportations, according to an internal federal notice obtained by CBS News.
The notice, sent Friday by officials at the Department of Health and Human Services, said the Department of Homeland Security “will provide a one-time resettlement support stipend of $2,500 … to unaccompanied alien children, 14 years of age and older, who have elected to voluntarily depart the United States as of the date of this notice and moving forward.”
The monetary offer would be available to unaccompanied migrant children in the custody of HHS’ Office of Refugee Resettlement, which is required by law to house these minors in shelters, foster homes and other facilities until they turn 18 or they can be released to a suitable sponsor. Children from Mexico will not qualify for the $2,500 stipend.
Historically, most unaccompanied children in federal care have been teenagers from Central America who crossed the U.S. southern border without authorization and without their parents or legal guardians.
The notice sent by HHS Friday said the $2,500 government bonus “is intended to support reintegration efforts following departure.” Voluntary departure is a special legal process for unaccompanied children and all such cases need to be approved by an immigration judge.
CBS News reached out to representatives for the DHS and HHS about the $2,500 offer outlined in the notice, which was first reported by CNN.
ICE said the voluntary departure program is initially being offered to 17-year-olds. The agency said the “voluntary option” gives unaccompanied children “a choice and allows them to make an informed decision about their future.”
“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 said in a statement. “Access to financial support when returning home would assist should they choose that option.”
Melissa Adamson, an attorney at the California-based National Center for Youth Law, said unaccompanied minors “need meaningful legal guidance, not government cash payouts, to safely weigh the option of voluntary departure.”
“Dangling money before vulnerable children distorts this process and could endanger their lives,” she added.
The stipend is one of several efforts the Trump administration has announced to increase the number of unauthorized immigrants leaving the country, through both forced deportations and self-deportations. Over the past months, officials have been offering adult immigrants in the U.S. illegally a $1,000 self-deportation bonus if they return to their home countries, as well as travel assistance.
While Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests across the country have become the most visible part of President Trump’s hardline immigration agenda, his administration has simultaneously undertaken a smaller effort to remove or compel the self-deportation of unaccompanied children who entered the country without permission.
Since Mr. Trump took office, HHS officials have made it harder for prospective sponsors, especially those in the U.S. illegally, to sponsor unaccompanied children out of federal custody.
The Trump administration has also sought to circumvent legal protections that make it difficult to quickly deport most unaccompanied minors. Under federal law, unaccompanied children who are not from Mexico or Canada are not eligible for expedited deportations and have to see an immigration judge before any attempt by the government to deport them. During that process, many of them seek asylum or special visas for at-risk and abused youth.
In late August, the administration attempted to deport more than 70 Guatemalan children, including many with active immigration cases in the U.S., arguing that their family members had asked for their return. But that effort was blocked by a federal judge as the children sat on planes ready to take off. A Guatemalan government report disclosed in the case found none of the children’s parents affirmatively requested their return.
Trump administration officials have also directed ICE agents to perform “welfare checks” on unaccompanied children released from federal care across the country, citing contested claims that the Biden administration “lost” thousands of migrant minors.
