A Tijeras man remains in federal custody after Immigration and Customs Enforcement said he entered the country legally in 2015 but never left when he was supposed to. Eric Reyes's wife told reporters he was picked up last week in Tijeras, and ICE says he now faces removal proceedings while the agency simultaneously dangles a cash incentive for people in his situation to leave the country voluntarily.
According to KOB 4, ICE says Reyes violated the terms of his admission by failing to depart the country, and he remains in custody pending removal proceedings. The station reported that his wife said he was picked up last week in Tijeras, though the exact date of his detention was not specified.
ICE Dangles Cash and a Flight Home
Alongside Reyes's case, ICE told the station it is offering people it describes as illegal aliens $3,000 and a free flight to self-deport. An ICE spokesperson encouraged everyone in the country illegally to take the offer, saying, “We encourage every person here illegally to take advantage of this offer,” per the station's report.
That $3,000 figure sits alongside different numbers reported elsewhere for similar federal self-deportation efforts. Axios reported that a related self-deportation initiative offers free travel and a stipend, but described the stipend as having risen to $2,600 after briefly touching $3,000 the previous Christmas. Separately, CNN reported that the government's Project Homecoming initiative offers stipends of up to $2,600 and free flights to immigrants who return home.
A Program ICE Says Is Ramping Up
Federal guidance posted on ICE's self-deportation page states that a person intending to self-deport does not need to turn themselves in to an ICE office and may simply leave the country. ICE describes its broader mission, per a fact sheet posted to its website, as protecting the country from cross-border crime and illegal immigration through enforcement of more than 400 federal statutes.
Axios reported that the self-deportation push had helped about 132,000 people exit the United States as of July 16, with roughly 70,000 more signed up to leave, and that the effort was on pace to account for more than 200,000 departures. The outlet also reported that about half of the self-deportations have involved immigrants who were already held in detention, and that the Department of Homeland Security projects $2.5 billion in savings on removal costs. CNN's reporting, drawn from a DHS document it reviewed, put the Project Homecoming total at nearly 72,000 self-deportations, with 37,281 of those participants already in ICE detention at the time.
Similar Offers Extended to Migrant Children
The incentive structure has also been extended to minors. ABC News reported that the Department of Homeland Security is offering eligible unaccompanied migrant children $3,000 to voluntarily leave the country, available to minors who are at least 14 years old, in government custody and have no gang affiliation. That $3,000 figure was reported as $500 higher than the $2,500 incentive DHS offered minors the previous year, according to the outlet's reporting.
Separately, federal guidance posted to USCIS's Project Homecoming page describes a voluntary, incentivized process allowing people in the country to return to their home country or another country where they hold legal status, using the CBP Home mobile app to record their intent to depart.
What the Law Says About Leaving Voluntarily
Outside of these incentive programs, federal law has long allowed for voluntary departure as an alternative to formal removal. According to the federal statute on voluntary departure, the Attorney General may permit a person to voluntarily depart the United States at their own expense, in lieu of or before completion of removal proceedings, subject to statutory conditions. The Justice Department's guidance on the process notes that if an immigration judge grants pre-conclusion voluntary departure, the person may be given up to 120 days to leave the country.
For now, he remains in ICE custody in New Mexico as his removal proceedings move forward.
