Subsidizing Self-Deportation: A Good or Bad Idea?

In an effort to speed up the deportation of illegal aliens, Donald Trump has instituted a new program that focuses on self-deportation:

Today, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced a historic opportunity for illegal aliens to receive both financial and travel assistance to facilitate travel back to their home country through the CBP Home App. Any illegal alien who uses the CBP Home App to self-deport will also receive a stipend of $1,000 dollars, paid after their return to their home country has been confirmed through the app.

Self-deportation is a dignified way to leave the U.S. and will allow illegal aliens to avoid being encountered by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Even with the cost of the stipend, it is projected that the use of CBP Home will decrease the costs of a deportation by around 70 percent. Currently the average cost to arrest, detain, and remove an illegal alien is $17,121.

(I don’t think it was a coincidence that President Trump also shared the idea around the same time of reopening and expanding Alcatraz—a sort of carrot-and-stick proposal.)

Illegal aliens might also want to avoid other dire consequences:

The Trump administration has threatened certain unauthorized immigrants with prosecution, jail time and fines if they fail to register with the federal government. It has also dramatically broadened whom ICE deportation officers can target for arrest, reversing Biden-era rules that largely limited immigration arrests to serious criminals, national security threats and recent arrivals.

I was intrigued by the decision to arrest non-criminal aliens, when the original promise was to only arrest illegal criminals for now.

Of course, there are some who think this program is a bad idea:

The Trump administration has repeatedly said those who participate in the self-deportation campaign may be able to come back to the U.S. legally in the future. But seeking permission to enter the U.S. legally is often a lengthy, complicated and expensive process, and poor and destitute individuals without any family or employers in the U.S. generally don't qualify for a visa. Additionally, those who leave the U.S. after being in the country illegally for over a year could face a 10-year ban on reentry.

There’s no way to know for certain whether these restrictions will be maintained or modified.

What do you think? Do you think people will sign up and try to return to the U.S. anyway?