Trump Admin Offers Illegals $3,000 and a Free Flight Home – Take It or Get Arrested

Dec 23, 2025

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With deportation facilities filling up and legal battles slowing down removals, the Trump administration is trying a new tactic to clear the backlog: cold, hard cash.

On Monday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced a “holiday stipend” of $3,000 for undocumented migrants who agree to leave the country voluntarily by the end of the year.

The offer—triple the amount proposed in a similar pilot program last spring—comes with a stark ultimatum. The administration is framing this not as a negotiation, but as a final “gift” before enforcement agents unleash a more aggressive crackdown in 2026.

Discussion

No I do not support giving illegals $3,000 to leave our country they have used up all of our money they have been paid well over the amount of money they ever deserve to have in a lifetime at the expense of the American people absolutely not one red cent

Throw their sorry asses out, no $3.000 bucks too criminals that broke our laws

Yes it will save taxpayers 14k for each one of them. Because if they don’t leave voluntarily then it cost taxpayers 17K to track them down and deport them.

Yeah, well what's to stop them from coming right back? Surly their "Word" isn't enough. No you take that money and you hire more ICE Agents and you take the restrictions off .

I would support offering them their lives to leave within 6 week. Anyone still present after the deadline, is, well, dead.

Give that money to the taxpayers

Absolutely not there not supposed to be here anyway send them back to where they came from they been here long enough mooching off of our country

Whatever it takes to motivate people here illegally to go home

No I don't support it, because I don't believe that the American people should pay the illegals. Just to get them to leave our country. But I do support my President Trump and all his policies if he believes that this is the better course of action to get the illegals to leave our country, then so be it, but no I do not support it, because I don't believe the American people should use their tax dollars just to pay these illegal Immigrants as an incentive. to leave our country, it's not right.

Is not right

A fucking joke in america! All said the govt didnt have money for a 2000 dollar relief check for americans, but wants to give illegals 3000 dollars! Trump is going to be losing my support altogether if he does this! WTF is wrong with these traitor bastard polititions?

Fuck no, he didnt give americans a 2000 dollar relief check, but wants to give illegals 3000 wtf is wrong here? Hes a traitor too?

We should get 3,000 of our money you are wasting on these illegals.You seem to be taking from us to pay the bad.

Fucking administration are morons and stupid assholes starting from the top down

Oh hell no. Illegals should not be given a choice, catch them and kick them out of the country. No question, no money, no second chances.

I support giving them 3 weeks to leave or being hung or shot if they are still here January 15th. We vets are looking at a Revolution to eliminate all foreigners and after, all politicians and the rest of govt employees who put us where we are. WE the PEOPLE will take turn running the Country with handouts only to children, veterans and the elderly!Over half the Country receive free handouts, not what made this Country great!

Kick their asses out of the US!
We don’t want them here!
Also, refund all taxpayer money that they stole! We are not putting up with working our asses off so they can benefit! This is the problem that the Democrats put upon our country. Make THEM PAY THE $3,000.00 out of THIER MONEY! Not one dime should come from taxpayers!

That is more money than we the people are getting and we EARNED ours
they stole from us and then we pay them HELL NO!

Agreed.

I hate the thought of paying people who entered our country illegally to leave. But with all the Democratic politicians standing in the way of deportations, pay them to go home. It will be cheaper. We have a country to rebuild.

We owe them nothing

No. No more money to illegals. Make high dollar fines to company's that hire an illegal, to where it costs more to hire than to have cheap labor. Include the companies that house them as well. That's what is keeping them here. Plus they want to reward them and give them 3,000? That will not make them want to leave. They will find ways to stay.

Just kick them out now, no money. give money to our vets and senior citizen's

I support giving them a ticket OUT….maybe 500 dollars….but definitely not 3k!!!

NO, they are sending our money to their relatives in Somalia!! Hell NO !! Get rid of them !

Absolutely not!!! That will give them a loop hole to a free ride home with money to get right back in!

At a Glance: The ‘Exit Bonus’

The Offer: Migrants who “self-deport” by December 31 will receive $3,000, a free flight home, and forgiveness of civil fines.
The Threat: Secretary Noem warned that those who refuse the offer will face arrest and a permanent ban: “If they don’t, we will find them… and they will never return.”
The History: A similar program in May offered $1,000. Reports surfaced later that many participants struggled to collect the money or never received it.
The Legal Warning: Immigration attorneys call the program a “trap,” warning that “voluntary” departure often still triggers multi-year bans on legally returning to the U.S.

‘Take Advantage of This Gift’

The administration is marketing the stipend as a compassionate off-ramp for those in the country illegally.

Secretary Noem pitched the “exit bonus” as a pragmatic solution for migrants who want to avoid the trauma of a raid or jail time. By offering a free flight and enough cash to restart their lives in their home countries, DHS hopes to induce thousands to self-deport without the government incurring the high cost of detention and court proceedings.

“Illegal aliens should take advantage of this gift and self-deport because if they don’t, we will find them, we will arrest them, and they will never return.” — DHS Secretary Kristi Noem

The Legal ‘Trap’

Legal experts and advocacy groups are urging extreme caution. The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) has previously branded such schemes as deceptive.

The core issue is the fine print. While the government promises forgiveness of “civil fines,” accepting the offer and leaving often triggers an automatic 3-year or 10-year bar on re-entering the U.S. legally.

“It is deceptive and gives people the impression there are no consequences… No one should accept this without first obtaining good legal advice.” — AILA Statement

Attorneys warn that migrants who take the money effectively sign away their rights to fight for asylum or other legal relief, trading their day in court for a check that, based on the May pilot program, might be difficult to actually cash.

Desperation or Strategy?

The increase from $1,000 to $3,000 suggests that the administration is eager to boost its deportation numbers before the end of the year.

With courts recently blocking removal flights to El Salvador (the CECOT ruling) and limiting National Guard deployments, the White House is facing logistical bottlenecks in its mass deportation agenda. The cash incentive represents a pivot to “soft power”—using the treasury to achieve what the enforcement arm is struggling to do fast enough.

As the year closes, the choice for undocumented migrants is stark: take the cash and a one-way ticket now, or gamble on their ability to evade the “deportation force” promised in the new year.