Republicans on Capitol Hill are already excited about the Trump administration’s latest tactic for saving government money: Offering undocumented immigrants $1,000 to “self-deport.”
The administration on Monday unveiled a plan to offer undocumented immigrants the stipend in exchange for proof that they plan to leave the country. In addition, the administration is offering to help with travel costs. Administration officials argue that the total cost of the program would amount to savings for taxpayers, compared with the cost of government officials forcibly detaining and deporting individuals.
“I kind of like it. It’s a little bit out of the box, but it’s different. And frankly, it’s a better return on investment than the present situation,” Rep. Dan Meuser told NOTUS.
A number of lawmakers on Monday — many fresh off flights back to Washington — told NOTUS they still needed to look more closely at the plan. Sen. Markwayne Mullin was among them but said off the bat that “it’s not a bad idea” and that he expects it will “save the taxpayers probably a lot more money.”
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And besides the potential cost savings, Republicans say it could open up paths for immigrants to obtain legal residency later on.
“I think that they know that in the long run, if they induce people to do something, it’s better than forcing them to do it,” Rep. Barry Loudermilk told NOTUS. “It’s just a matter of getting people to come in, trust that they will give them a flight back home, give them the money, and then they would have a chance to come back.”
It’s unclear exactly how the plan will be paid for, but as the number of border crossings has slowed, the administration has struggled to increase its deportation numbers. ICE facilities are at capacity, and the department is out of money. The Department of Homeland Security is asking for a huge increase in funds in next year’s budget, but in-person operations are costly and don’t usually result in a significant number of deportations.
A DHS press release touted so-called self-deportation as “a dignified way to leave the U.S. and will allow illegal aliens to avoid being encountered by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.”
“Even with the cost of the stipend, it is projected that the use of CBP Home will decrease the costs of a deportation by around 70 percent. Currently the average cost to arrest, detain, and remove an illegal alien is $17,121,” the release added.
Rep. Austin Scott told NOTUS that he thought the stipends would be cheaper, but he disagreed with the principle of handing money out to people who came to the U.S. illegally.
“I understand the pragmatic side of it, but I would not have done it. I don’t think you should reward bad behavior,” Rep. Scott said. “I’m not all up in arms about it. I’m not losing sleep over it. But I would not have done it.”
But every other Republican NOTUS spoke with didn’t share those scruples.
Sen. Rick Scott said “if it’s a cheaper way of making it happen, I think it really makes sense.”
Asked whether he’s concerned about undocumented immigrants leaving the country, accepting a stipend and then returning, Sen. Scott said “hopefully they can’t come back” and that “you have to be careful you’re not rewarding bad behavior.”
Others argued that Trump would deter undocumented immigrants from trying to return illegally later on.
“That could be a problem if we had a Democrat in the White House, but we’ve got President Trump there who’s upholding our border laws and our border security,” Rep. Brandon Gill said. “Given how low border crossings are now, it starts to make a lot more sense.”
Rep. Brian Babin said he thinks crossing the border more than once should have harsher penalties anyway, no matter if this policy happens to be implemented.
He said that someone would have to “verify that they’re back home,” and then “if you re-enter illegally for a second time, you need to be charged with a felony.”
The DHS press release did imply that self-deporters may court extra favor if they continue to seek legal residency: “Participation in CBP Home Self-Deportation may help preserve the option for an illegal alien to re-enter the United States legally in the future.”
The proposed stipends are part of DHS’ push to get migrants to skip fighting their removal through the country’s already backlogged immigration courts. Some experts warned migrants to be cautious, however, of leaving, particularly if they are already in removal proceedings because it would mean not showing up in court — which could result in closing some avenues of relief, like asylum, according to one advocate who spoke with The Associated Press. Abandoning their case can count against migrants in the future, while others may be able to successfully fight deportation in court.
Still, Rep. Michael McCaul argued that the process could benefit migrants who could one day have a chance at legal re-entry.
“Any incentives we can do to have them self-deport and not have it count against them in the legal process of immigration, to me, that’s kind of a win-win,” McCaul said. “They should have the opportunity to self-deport, otherwise, it’s going to count against them if they want to try to get in legally.”
Other efforts from the Trump administration to get immigrants out in a rush have stalled out in court or have been stymied by rulings that required the administration to provide due process, like using the Alien Enemies Act to deport people. Republican members of Congress seemed open to the idea that the $1,000 checks could be a productive workaround.
“The great thing about him, Trump, he would have researched it enough to know the possibilities,” Rep. Ralph Norman said. He thought that in this year’s busy Congress, appropriations could still be made if needed. “His judgment on that, and if you do the math according to what he has found, to me, would make sense.”
Angry conservatives have been making noise about the still-unbalanced budget and the national debt, which will continue to grow under the president’s tax cuts. But even some of the GOP’s loudest deficit hawks, like Rep. Victoria Spartz, said the stipends would likely save money.
“They should take it,” Spartz said. “It’s cheaper for us.”
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Casey Murray and Emily Kennard are NOTUS reporters and Allbritton Journalism Institute fellows. Ursula Perano is a reporter at NOTUS.
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