Overview:
Undocumented immigrants who use the CBP Dwelling app to self-deport by Dec. 31 will obtain a $3,000 stipend and a free flight residence. The Division of Homeland Safety mentioned the supply is a part of ongoing efforts to encourage voluntary departure earlier than ramping up enforcement in 2026.
Undocumented immigrants in america who register to voluntarily go away the nation by way of the CBP Dwelling app by Dec. 31 will obtain a $3,000 stipend and free airfare, the Division of Homeland Safety (DHS) introduced yesterday.
The vacation incentive, a short lived improve over the app’s traditional $1,000 profit, additionally waives civil penalties for overstaying or failing to depart. Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem framed this system as a “reward” to those that go away on their very own earlier than the company intensifies enforcement in 2026.
“Since January 2025, 1.9 million [undocumented immigrants] have voluntarily self-deported and tens of hundreds have used the CBP Dwelling program,” Noem mentioned in an announcement. “In the course of the Christmas season, the U.S. taxpayer is so generously tripling the motivation to depart voluntarily…providing a $3,000 exit bonus, however simply till the top of the 12 months.”
The announcement comes virtually two weeks after DHS mentioned it might terminate household reunification parole packages for Haitians and immigrants from six different international locations over the following 12 months, citing safety considerations and a shift towards individualized parole selections.
The division additionally not too long ago introduced the top of Short-term Protected Standing (TPS) for Haitian nationals, requiring most to depart the nation by Feb. 3, 2026—a call that has drawn widespread criticism from advocates and native officers, particularly in cities like Springfield, Ohio, the place greater than 12,000 Haitians have resettled.
As The Haitian Occasions beforehand reported, the termination of TPS has triggered a wave of worry, authorized uncertainty, and household separation in communities like Springfield. Native leaders and advocates in Springfield warn that greater than 1,300 kids beneath age 4 are actually prone to coming into foster care or going through instability as their Haitian mother and father face deportation.
The brand new CBP Dwelling incentive could also be DHS’s try to ease transitions forward of these deadlines, however critics argue that it locations households in an not possible place. With Haiti nonetheless beneath a Degree 4 journey advisory resulting from widespread violence, deportees could also be returning to harmful or uninhabitable circumstances—a contradiction advocates say undermines DHS’s humanitarian claims.
Many group organizations are encouraging affected Haitians to hunt authorized recommendation earlier than making selections by way of the CBP Dwelling app. The division mentioned people who don’t voluntarily depart could face arrest and everlasting bans on reentry.
DHS has not offered information disaggregated by nationality on who has used the CBP Dwelling program so far.
“What is occurring right here is tearing many households aside,” mentioned Marjorie Exumé, a Haitian immigrant, holding her toddler, after a city corridor in Springfield earlier this month.
“We aren’t asking for particular therapy,” Exumé mentioned. “We’re asking for humanity. Assist us keep collectively as a household.”