WASHINGTON – The Department of Homeland Security is tripling its payments to undocumented immigrants who deport themselves for the holidays to $3,000 per person.
Under President Donald Trump’s stricter immigration enforcement, the department has been offering $1,000 and free travel to persuade people without legal authority who remain in the United States to leave.
The advantage to the government is avoiding the average cost of $17,121 to arrest, detain and remove immigrants, officials have said.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said U.S. taxpayers are "generously" tripling the exit bonus through Dec. 31.
"Illegal aliens should take advantage of this gift and self-deport because if they don’t, we will find them, we will arrest them, and they will never return," Noem said in a statement.
