Christmas “gift”: Playing Santa Claus, Trump offers $3k, free ticket if aliens self-deport by Dec. 31

Virendra Pandit

New Delhi: The year 2025 began for them with a humiliated return home, but US President Donald Trump now wants illegal immigrants to return with a Christmas “gift”: a USD 3,000 stipend and a free ticket on flight back home—if they self-deport by December 31, 2025.

According to media reports on Tuesday, the Trump administration’s mega Christmas incentive for undocumented immigrants to leave the country voluntarily is meant to escalate mass deportations and slash enforcement costs.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is offering illegal aliens USD 3,000 (approximately Rs 2,70,738), along with paid travel, if they agree to leave the US before the end of the year, the reports said.

“Illegal aliens who sign up to self-deport through the CBP (Customs and Border Protection) Home app by the end of the year will receive a $3,000 stipend in addition to a free flight home. Using the CBP Home app also qualifies recipients for forgiveness of any civil fines or penalties for failing to depart the country,” DHS was quoted as saying in a statement.

The USD 3,000 stipend is three times the USD 1,000 payout that Team Trump announced in May this year. The move is part of the Trump administration’s holiday-season campaign aimed at speeding up deportations.

“Self-deportation through the CBP Home app is the best gift that an illegal alien can give themselves and their families this holiday season. It’s a fast, free, and easy process: Just download the app, fill out your information, and DHS will take care of the rest – including arranging and paying for your travel back home,” the DHS statement said.

“Those illegal aliens who don’t take advantage of this special offer today have only one alternative: They will be arrested, deported, and they will never be able to return to the United States,” it added.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, in a statement, said that undocumented immigrants should take advantage of the “gift and self-deport because if they don’t, we will find them, we will arrest them, and they will never return.”

According to DHS, 1.9 million undocumented migrants have voluntarily self-deported, and tens of thousands of them have used CBP Home since January 2025.