President Donald Trump’s administration is offering to pay migrant children to self-deport.
This is not the first time the administration has offered a financial incentive to those in the country legally, and now the option is being extended to migrant children ages 14 and older. According to The Associated Press, which received a copy of an email sent to migrant shelters housing children, the administration is offering individuals $2,500 each to relocate back to their home countries. Those interested were given 24 hours to respond, and no consequences were mentioned for any child who did not choose to take the offer.
“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,” Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said in a statement. “Access to financial support when returning home would assist should they choose that option.”
“ICE dismissed widespread reports among immigration lawyers and advocates that it was launching a much broader crackdown Friday to deport migrant children who entered the country without their parents, called ‘Freaky Friday,’” AP reported.
Predictably, advocates are decrying the offer and claiming that it may prompt children to make a decision they wouldn’t otherwise choose.
“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,” said National Center for Youth Law senior attorney Melissa Adamson.
“Murad Awawdeh, president of the New York Immigration Coalition, echoed concerns about the offer, saying it ‘pressures children to abandon their legal claims and return to a life of fear and danger without ever receiving a fair hearing,’” the outlet’s report continued.
X users reacted to the offer:
If their parents sent them here all alone facing so much danger I would hate that they would get some of the 2500
— Giabean1 (@Tmaze74) October 4, 2025
United States needs to send the bill for everyone we return home to the countries of origin, extract whatever they owe us out of additional tariffs and taxes on remittances,
— xter (@kami_mckneepads) October 4, 2025
Thats wild. On 1 hand it sounds lik a cheaper, more humane way to handle deportations—offering cash instead of force. But on the other, paying kids to go back to countries they probably fled for safety? That’s complicated. Doesnt really solve the problm, jst moves it outta sight
— J blunt (@SilentNoMoreNG) October 4, 2025
Cheaper than endless taxpayer-funded benefits, safer than open borders.
A stipend to go home beats incentives to stay illegally.— Dr.Barlin (@DrBarlin) October 4, 2025
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