The Department of Homeland Security on Monday announced for the first time that it was offering financial and travel assistance to immigrants who self-deport back to their home country.
According to DHS, immigrants who do this through the CBP Home App will get $1,000 that is paid to them after it’s confirmed through the app that they’ve returned home.
DHS officials said the incentive is aimed at saving taxpayers thousands of dollars.
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As it stands now, the cost to arrest, detain and remove an undocumented immigrant is more than $17,000, according to figures provided by DHS.
Pablo Acosta, an immigrant from Honduras, said he is skeptical about the federal government's proposal.
Acosta said the decision to come to the United States was a matter of life or death for his family.
“We were fine in our country until we started dealing with political persecution, death threats from gangs and someone tried to kidnap our daughter when she was on her way to school," Acosta added.
Alexandre Padilla, an economics professor at Metropolitan State University in Denver, said the question now is, how many immigrants will take the offer?
"The incentive might be working for immigrants that are very concerned. But if you have a family here, some of your children might be born here, the cost of moving would be far greater than the $1,000," Padilla said.
Violeta Chapin, an associate dean and clinical professor of law at the University of Colorado Boulder Law School, said those who choose to leave may have a difficult time if they ever decide they want to come back.
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"The United States, through its laws, has limited the number of people that are permitted to come lawfully, and so that's why we see so much irregular migration to the United States," Chapin said. "People who take advantage of this option from the government may be feeling, 'Well, this United States isn't what I thought it was going to be,' perhaps, and they say, 'And I will take my chances at home, perhaps again.' But you know, it's very difficult to return, right? It's difficult, almost impossible, to return — lawfully — for many people."
DHS said the first immigrant who has taken the deal has already returned to Honduras.
More tickets have been booked for this week and next, according to DHS, but they did not share how many.
This article was written by Kristian Lopez for the Scripps News Group in Denver.
