Trump administration will pay illegal immigrants 1,000 dollars to go home

The Trump administration says it is going to pay immigrants in the United States illegally who have returned to their home country voluntarily 1,000 dollars (£753) as it pushes forward with its mass deportation agenda.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said that it is also paying for travel assistance and that those people who use an app called CBP Home to tell the government that they plan to return home will be “deprioritised” for detention and removal by immigration enforcement.

Secretary Kristi Noem said: “If you are here illegally, self-deportation is the best, safest and most cost-effective way to leave the United States to avoid arrest.

“DHS is now offering illegal aliens financial travel assistance and a stipend to return to their home country through the CBP Home App.”

The department said it had already paid for a plane ticket for one migrant to return home to Honduras from Chicago and said more tickets have been booked for this week and next.

President Donald Trump has made immigration enforcement and the mass deportation of immigrants in the US illegally a centrepiece of his campaign, but that is a costly, resource-intensive endeavour.

While the Republican administration is pushing Congress for a massive increase in resources for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement department responsible for removing people from the country, it is also pushing people in the country illegally to “self-deport”.