The U.S. government is offering migrants without valid residency status a financial incentive to leave the country voluntarily by the end of the year, pitching the programme as a "Christmas bonus."
Migrants who register for voluntary departure by Dec. 31 will receive a free flight home and a payment of $3,000, the Department of Homeland Security said.
Since May, the government has offered $1,000 to migrants willing to arrange their departure through a mobile app that allows for "self-deportation."
The Department of Homeland Security has now stepped up promotion of the programme with a holiday-themed appeal, encouraging migrants to accept the limited-time offer in order to return "home" in time for the festive season.
Many migrants who entered the U.S. illegally have lived in the country for years or even decades and now consider the U.S. their home.
But President Donald Trump has made mass deportations a central pillar of his second term. Immigration raids have intensified, with officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement carrying out more aggressive operations to detain migrants without legal status.
In its latest appeal, the Homeland Security Department described voluntary departure as "the best gift that an illegal alien can give themselves and their families this holiday season."
The process was described as fast, free and straightforward, requiring only the download of an app and the submission of basic information, after which the department would arrange and pay for travel.
"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," Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement on Monday.
Noem said that 1.9 million foreign nationals have used the voluntary departure option since January, including tens of thousands who registered through the app. The figures could not be independently verified.
According to data released by the Homeland Security Department in May, the average cost of arresting, detaining and deporting an undocumented migrant amounts to $17,121. Offering a smaller financial incentive for voluntary departure is therefore significantly cheaper for the government.
