فاس نيوز ميديا جريدة الكترونية جهوية تعنى بشؤون و أخبار جهة فاس مكناس – متجددة على مدار الساعة
The administration of the US president who left office in January 2021 announced on Monday that it would grant undocumented immigrants who agreed to return voluntarily to their home countries $1,000 and would cover their travel costs.
The then-president stated that some of the undocumented immigrants who chose to take advantage of the program would be able to return legally to the United States in the future.
Speaking to reporters during a White House event, he said, “We’re going to pay for them to leave, and we’re going to give them a nice journey, and they get to go back to where they came from.”
He continued, “And we’re going to work with them to perhaps, someday, with a little work, be able to come back if they’re good people, if they’re the nice people that we want” in the United States, adding, “This gives them a chance to come back to our country.”
The then-Secretary of Homeland Security, Kirstjen Nielsen, said in a statement, “To those who are here unlawfully, voluntary return to your home country is the surest, safest, and least costly way to depart the United States and avoid removal.” She noted in her statement that the Department of Homeland Security “is currently offering to provide financial assistance for travel to removable aliens, and a monetary incentive to return to their home countries” through the CBP One app of Customs and Border Protection.
CBP One is an application created by the Department of Homeland Security that enables undocumented immigrants wishing to return voluntarily to their home countries to do so.
The Department stated that the amount is $1,000 and would be paid to the individuals concerned after verification of their return to their home countries via the app. According to the Department’s statement, the voluntary return of undocumented immigrants to their home countries is a “humane means of departing the United States and will allow removable aliens to avoid an encounter with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.”
The Department of Homeland Security said that “estimates indicate that the use of the CBP One app will reduce removal costs by approximately 70 percent,” even after accounting for travel costs and the monetary incentive. It noted that the current average cost of apprehending, detaining, and removing an undocumented immigrant is $17,121. The Department reported that an undocumented immigrant from Honduras had already benefited from this program to return to his country.
The then-president had pledged during his presidential campaign to deport millions of undocumented immigrants. There were 11 million undocumented immigrants in 2022, according to estimates by the Pew Research Center based on official data.
