By VALERIE GONZALEZ
McALLEN, Texas (AP) — The Trump administration mentioned Friday that it could pay migrant kids $2,500 to voluntarily return to their house nations, dangling a brand new incentive in efforts to influence individuals to self-deport.
The discover to shelters from the U.S. Well being and Human Companies Division’s Administration for Households and Youngsters didn’t point out any penalties for kids who decline the supply. It requested shelter administrators to acknowledge the supply inside 4 hours.
ICE mentioned in an announcement that the supply would initially be for 17-year-olds.
“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 mentioned. “Access to financial support when returning home would assist should they choose that option.”
ICE, the Division of Homeland Safety and the Well being and Human Companies Division didn’t instantly reply to questions concerning the quantity of the fee and age eligibility.
ICE dismissed widespread reviews amongst immigration legal professionals and advocates that it was launching a wider crackdown Friday to deport migrant kids who entered the nation with out their mother and father, known as “Freaky Friday.”
The administration has additionally supplied $1,000 to adults who voluntarily go away the nation. Advocates mentioned $2,500 might forestall kids from making knowledgeable choices.
“For a child, $2,500 might be the most money they’ve ever seen in their life, and that may make it very, very difficult for them to accurately weigh the long-term risks of taking voluntary departure versus trying to stay in the United States and going through the immigration court process to get relief that they may be legally entitled to,” mentioned Melissa Adamson, senior lawyer on the Nationwide Middle for Youth Regulation.
Murad Awawdeh, president of the New York Immigration Coalition, echoed issues concerning the supply, saying it “pressures children to abandon their legal claims and return to a life of fear and danger without ever receiving a fair hearing.”
U.S. border authorities have arrested kids crossing the border with out mother and father greater than 400,000 instances since October 2021. A 2008 regulation requires them to seem earlier than an immigration choose earlier than being returned to their nations.
Youngsters have been spending extra time in government-run shelters for the reason that Trump administration put them underneath nearer scrutiny earlier than releasing them to household in america to pursue their immigration instances.
The extra scrutiny consists of fingerprinting, DNA testing and residential visits by immigration officers. Over the summer season, immigration officers began exhibiting up and arresting mother and father.
The common size of keep at government-run shelters for these launched within the U.S. was 171 days in July, down from a peak of 217 days in April however effectively above 37 days in January, when Trump took workplace.
Initially Revealed: October 3, 2025 at 5:30 PM EDT
