type: timeline_event
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem announced on Fox News that immigrants who voluntarily self-deport through the CBP Home app would receive a $3,000 stipend for the final weeks of 2025, tripling the $1,000 incentive introduced in May. Noem framed the increase as a "home for the holidays" message.
The increased stipend came as the administration struggled to meet Stephen Miller's goal of 3,000 deportations per day, with actual daily arrests averaging fewer than 1,000. The self-deportation program represented an attempt to boost removal numbers through incentives rather than enforcement alone.
Critics noted the program's coercive nature, as immigrants faced the choice between accepting a modest payment to leave or risking violent arrest operations conducted by agents operating with minimal oversight. The holiday framing added a propaganda element to what amounted to paying people to abandon their lives and communities in the United States.