Americans Ring in 2026 with Safer Communities Delivered by ICE Arresting Worst of Worst Child Sexual Predators, Murderers, and Drug Traffickers

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a law‑enforcement agency inside the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). It is the main federal agency that enforces immigration laws inside the United States (away from the border) and also investigates customs, smuggling, and related crimes.

ICE’s power to question, arrest, detain, and remove non‑U.S. citizens (“aliens” in the law) comes primarily from section 287(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), codified at 8 U.S.C. §1357, and implementing regulations at 8 C.F.R. §287.5. These laws authorize immigration officers to:

• Question people about their right to be in the U.S.
• Arrest noncitizens for suspected immigration violations (and certain federal crimes), sometimes without a warrant if there is “reason to believe” the person is violating immigration law and may escape before a warrant is obtained.
• Carry firearms, execute warrants, and take people into custody for removal (deportation) proceedings.

Within ICE, Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) handles most arrests and deportations of noncitizens inside the country.

CBP Home is a DHS/U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) smartphone app designed for people who are in the U.S. without lawful status to voluntarily arrange their own departure (“self‑deportation”). It is a rebranded version of the earlier CBP One app.

In practice, using CBP Home to self‑deport works roughly like this:

1. Download the CBP Home app (Apple/Google stores) and create a profile.
2. Use the “Intent to Depart” feature to submit basic information (name, date of birth, country of citizenship, contact details, selfie, and travel preferences). You can add family members as co‑travelers.
3. DHS/CBP vets the information. If you qualify (generally “non‑criminal” under DHS criteria), ICE is supposed to temporarily deprioritize you for arrest and detention while departure is arranged.
4. DHS (through “Project Homecoming” and partners) arranges cost‑free travel, usually a flight home within about 21 days, and may provide help with logistics and documents.
5. Your departure is confirmed automatically for air/sea travel, or you verify land departure in the app using location and a new photo.
6. After DHS confirms you left, you can receive the promised stipend/exit bonus and forgiveness of certain civil “failure to depart” fines.

DHS describes CBP Home as a “voluntary, incentivized process” that lets people leave “as regular travelers—without arrest, detention, or restraints,” in contrast to being picked up by ICE.

Publicly available documents indicate the $3,000 stipend and free travel are created and run as an executive-branch program, not as a specific benefit spelled out in statute. The Immigration and Nationality Act allows DHS to run removal and voluntary departure programs, but the exact dollar amounts ($1,000 exit bonus, temporarily increased to $3,000) and the decision to offer free flights are policy choices implemented by DHS, not figures fixed in law.

Key points:

• DHS’s own CBP Home page and its May 5 and Dec. 22, 2025 press releases describe the stipend and free, government‑funded travel as part of a DHS initiative using the CBP Home app; they do not cite a new statute that sets the $3,000 amount.
• A Congressional Research Service (CRS) brief explains that “Project Homecoming” and the CBP Home self‑departure program were created under a presidential proclamation and administered by DHS, using existing immigration and appropriations authorities, rather than a stand‑alone self‑deportation statute.
• The CBP Home FAQ says DHS “is working with partners across the U.S. Government and countries receiving their repatriated citizens” and that CBP Home “will also provide assistance for voluntary returns through approved implementing partners,” but it does not name a single funding line. In practice, the program is run and paid for under Department of Homeland Security (including CBP/ICE) appropriations.

So: the stipend and free flight are DHS policy tools funded out of DHS/CBP/ICE budgets and related interagency “Project Homecoming” funds, not a benefit directly created in statute with a fixed amount written into law.

“Worst of the Worst” is a Department of Homeland Security/ICE branding and data‑publishing initiative, not a formal legal status. It has two main parts:

1. A public website and database (wow.dhs.gov / the “Arrested: Worst of the Worst” page on DHS.gov) that lists noncitizens arrested by ICE whom DHS labels as serious “criminal illegal aliens.” Entries include name, country of origin, location of arrest, and the crimes charged or convicted (from homicide and rape to domestic violence, child abuse, and various felonies).
2. A series of ICE/DHS press releases that highlight particular enforcement sweeps as arresting the “worst of the worst” criminal illegal aliens.

How individuals are designated:

• DHS says the database “aggregates information on criminal illegal aliens arrested by DHS during enforcement operations since the start of the Trump Administration” and focuses on people with criminal histories that include serious offenses such as homicide, rape, child molestation, drug trafficking, and similar crimes.
• However, DHS has not published a clear, formal set of legal criteria (for example, a specific list of qualifying statutes or minimum sentence length) that determines who is labeled “Worst of the Worst.” Instead, inclusion appears to be based on ICE’s arrest and conviction records and curated by DHS communications and enforcement components.
• Independent reviews of the database note that many listed people have non‑violent or lower‑level offenses, suggesting “Worst of the Worst” is primarily a communications framing chosen by DHS rather than a tightly defined legal category.

Tricia McLaughlin is the Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at the Department of Homeland Security. In that role she:

• Oversees DHS’s public outreach, including media relations, digital content, strategic messaging, and crisis communications.
• Serves as the principal advisor to Secretary Kristi Noem on all external and internal communications.

She is not an operational head of ICE; instead, she is the senior official in charge of how DHS (including ICE and CBP) presents its policies and operations to the public, which is why she is quoted in press releases about programs like “Worst of the Worst.”

“Secretary Noem” refers to Kristi Noem, the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security since 2025. As DHS Secretary, she:

• Heads the Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), and other components.
• Has broad authority under existing immigration laws to set enforcement priorities, direct ICE and CBP operations, and launch initiatives like the “Worst of the Worst” campaign and the CBP Home self‑deportation program, subject to the limits of statutes and congressional funding.
• Implements the president’s immigration and border‑security agenda across DHS, including policies on arrests, detention, removals, and programs such as Project Homecoming.

Her authority comes from the Homeland Security Act and other federal laws that vest administration and enforcement of immigration and border laws in the Secretary of Homeland Security.