Trump administration offers migrant children $2,500 to voluntarily
return to home countries
[October 04, 2025]
By VALERIE GONZALEZ
McALLEN, Texas (AP) — The Trump administration said Friday that it would
pay migrant children $2,500 to voluntarily return to their home
countries, dangling a new incentive in efforts to persuade people to
self-deport.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement didn’t say how much migrants
would get or when the offer would take effect, but The Associated Press
obtained an email to migrant shelters saying children 14 years of age
and older would get $2,500 each. Children were given 24 hours to
respond.
The notice to shelters from the U.S. Health and Human Services
Department's Administration for Families and Children did not indicate
any consequences for children who decline the offer. It asked shelter
directors to acknowledge the offer within four hours.
ICE said in a statement that the offer would initially be for
17-year-olds.
“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,” ICE said. “Access to financial support when
returning home would assist should they choose that option.”
ICE, the Department of Homeland Security and the Health and Human
Services Department did not immediately respond to questions about the
amount of the payment and age eligibility.
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.”
The administration has also offered $1,000 to adults who voluntarily
leave the country. Advocates said $2,500 may prevent children from
making informed decisions.
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An Immigration and Customs Enforcement vehicle is parked outside the
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) building Wednesday,
Sept. 24, 2025, in Broadview, Ill. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
“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 Melissa Adamson, senior attorney at the National
Center for Youth Law.
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.”
U.S. border authorities have arrested children crossing the border
without parents more than 400,000 times since October 2021. A 2008
law requires them to appear before an immigration judge before being
returned to their countries.
Children have been spending more time in government-run shelters
since the Trump administration put them under closer scrutiny before
releasing them to family in the United States to pursue their
immigration cases.
The additional scrutiny includes fingerprinting, DNA testing and
home visits by immigration officers. Over the summer, immigration
officers started showing up and arresting parents.
The average length of stay at government-run shelters for those
released in the U.S. was 171 days in July, down from a peak of 217
days in April but well above 37 days in January, when Trump took
office.
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