More than 2 million foreign nationals have been removed from US in 10 months

“Self-deportation is a dignified way to leave the U.S. and will allow illegal aliens to avoid being encountered by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement” agents, DHS said when announcing a new self-deportation initiative. The cost of the stipend for those who agree to self deport is projected to be 70% less than being arrested, processed for removal and deported by ICE agents, DHS said. “Currently the average cost to arrest, detain, and remove an illegal alien is $17,121.”

The record number of removals is a marked reversal of Biden administration policies, which ushered in at least 14 million illegal border crossers. Meanwhile, an additional 700,000 criminal foreign nationals backed up an ICE docket for removal, The Center Square reported. 

Biden administration policies ushered in millions of inadmissible foreign nationals through more than a dozen parole programs Congress identifies as illegal. Roughly one million who weren’t properly vetted were also released into the country using a newly created CBP One phone app, The Center Square reported.

Under the Trump administration, the app was repurposed as the CBP Home app and work authorization and other privileges that accompanied it were terminated.  

To quickly facilitate removals, DHS began offering $1,000 stipends and free flights home for those choosing to self deport using the app. Eligible participants include non-violent foreign nationals without criminal histories, who were encountered or apprehended by CBP or Border Patrol agents at a port of entry or between ports of entry, categorical parolees whose legal presence in the U.S. expired or will soon expire, and whose Temporary Protected Status was terminated, CBP explains. 

The Trump administration also began requiring all illegal foreign nationals in the U.S. to register with the federal government in accordance with federal law. Those who don’t and who fail to self-deport face fines of up to $1,000 a day, The Center Square reported.

DHS also launched Project Homecoming in May, using chartered flights to return individuals and families, including young children, to their home countries. They received travel assistance, a $1,000 stipend, “and preserved the possibility they could one day return to the United States legally,” The Center Square reported.

The administration also expedited enforcement operations to arrest violent criminals and those with removal orders illegally living in the U.S. nationwide. Targeted operations have led to the arrest of hundreds of thousands, federal detention, and removal proceedings before federal immigration judges.  

Every day, ICE officers and partnering law enforcement agencies are arresting violent felons with extensive criminal histories, including fugitives wanted by authorities, alleged terrorists, murderers, pedophiles, sex abusers, drug traffickers, human smugglers, and many who’ve been previously deported dozens of times. 

The majority of ICE arrests, 70%, are of violent criminals charged with or convicted of a crime in the U.S., it says.

Since implementing enhanced targeted operations, attacks against ICE officers increased by more than 1000%, The Center Square reported. Despite the government shutdown, ICE and federal law enforcement officers are still arresting violent offenders. Those doxxing and threatening ICE officers are also being arrested, many of whom are U.S. citizens, The Center Square reported.

“Rioters and sanctuary politicians have not deterred ICE or CBP in their mission to protect the homeland from those who have no right to be in America. Day-in and day-out, DHS law enforcement is removing the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens from American communities, including murderers, rapists, pedophiles, drug dealers,” and others DHS said.  

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem also launched a domestic and international ad campaign warning those in the country illegally to voluntarily leave and those in other countries not to come.

“Under President Trump, we are defending American families and restoring their safety. If you try to enter illegally, you will be caught, you will be removed, and you will never return," she said.