President Donald Trump is offering illegal aliens a chance to leave the country with dignity—and a financial incentive. Under a new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) initiative, migrants who voluntarily self-deport could receive a $1,000 reward and what Trump described as a “beautiful flight” back to their home country.
The president announced the program on Monday from the Oval Office, touting it as an efficient, humane alternative to mass deportations. “What we thought we’d do is a self-deport where we’re going to pay each one a certain amount of money and we’re going to get them a beautiful flight back to where they came from,” Trump said. “It’s called self-deportation.”
The DHS pilot program—modeled after successful initiatives in European countries like Germany and Denmark—requires participants to verify their departure using the new CBP Home mobile app. After their exit is confirmed, the $1,000 incentive is disbursed.
Administration officials believe this approach will streamline removals, ease pressure on immigration courts, and help clear out the millions of illegal aliens currently in the country, particularly those who don’t qualify for asylum but are clogging the system.
Trump used the moment to hammer the judicial roadblocks his immigration agenda has faced. “It’s a very difficult thing with the courts because the courts have all of the sudden, out of nowhere, they’ve said, ‘Maybe you have to have trials.’ We’re going to have five million trials? Doesn’t work … you wouldn’t have a country left.”
Referring to the Alien Enemies Act—a historic law he’s been using to try to speed up deportations of violent gang members—Trump lamented recent court decisions that have halted his efforts.
“Hopefully the Supreme Court will save it,” Trump said. “You know, past presidents took out hundreds of thousands of people. You look at Eisenhower, you look at many of them. They didn’t go through this.”
In just the past week, two federal judges have blocked key parts of Trump’s immigration crackdown. One judge in Texas halted the removal of illegal alien gang members under the Alien Enemies Act. Another, in California, ruled that the administration cannot stop funding taxpayer-funded lawyers for young migrants facing deportation—despite their illegal status.
Despite these legal hurdles, Trump praised his team, including border czar Tom Homan and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, for pushing through innovative ways to solve the crisis.
The self-deportation program marks a shift from high-profile immigration raids toward a more voluntary process—one that Trump argues is not only more cost-effective but potentially more popular with the public.
Critics of the plan are already warning that it amounts to paying people to break the law, but supporters see it as a pragmatic step to reduce the burden on immigration courts and minimize confrontational enforcement.
“This is about getting results,” said a DHS official familiar with the program. “We’re incentivizing people who are already under final removal orders to make the right choice—without dragging out the process for years.”
The Trump administration has made clear this is just one part of a broader plan to secure the border, dismantle transnational criminal networks, and restore law and order. With deportations surging and crossings falling, the White House believes this latest initiative will show that Trump can both enforce the law and do it humanely.
Whether courts will block this too remains to be seen. But the administration is betting Americans will support any policy that helps restore control of the border—and it’s daring the left to oppose flights home for those who aren’t supposed to be here in the first place.
