Mi Vecino, a Florida-based group that mobilizes Latino voters, is lambasting the Trump administration for offering a $1,000 incentive to migrants who "self-deport" using the CBP Home App that was once used to seek asylum.
“This is extortion pretending to be generosity,” said Alex Berrios, co-Founder of Mi Vecino.
“[President Donald Trump] is offering people a check to leave before ICE agents throw them into a detention center.”
“We will not be intimidated. We will not be silenced. We will organize and vote,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.
Pushing forward with its mass deportation agenda, the Trump administration said last week that it would pay $1,000 to immigrants who are in the United States illegally and return to their home country voluntarily.
READ MORE: Trump offers $1,000 incentive to migrants who leave the country voluntarily
The Department of Homeland Security said in a news release that it would also pay for travel assistance — and that people who use the app called CBP Home to tell the government they plan to return home will be “deprioritized” for detention and removal by immigration enforcement.
“If you are here illegally, self-deportation is the best, safest and most cost-effective way to leave the United States to avoid arrest,” Secretary Kristi Noem said. “DHS is now offering illegal aliens financial travel assistance and a stipend to return to their home country through the CBP Home App.”
DHS estimates the average cost of arresting, detaining and removing someone without legal status amounts to around $17,121.
Immigration enforcement officials have noted that detention capacity is maxed out and the administration is seeking to streamline removals.
“Trump thinks immigrant families will take the money and disappear. He is wrong. We are not for sale,” said Berrios.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
