The claim is that DHS/CBP would provide a $3,000 stipend and a free flight home to noncitizens who sign up to self-deport through the CBP Home app by the end of the year (December 31, 2025). This was framed as a year‑end expansion of an existing voluntary self-deportation program, and the follow-up date of January 15, 2026 falls just after the deadline.
On May 5, 2025, DHS officially launched a CBP Home app–based voluntary self-deportation program offering travel assistance and a $1,000 stipend paid after the participant’s return is confirmed, explicitly describing it as a cost-saving alternative to standard arrest–detain–remove processes. That press release also stated that individuals who file an “Intent to Depart” through the app would be deprioritized for detention and removal while they make “meaningful strides” toward leaving.
On December 22, 2025, DHS issued a new press release titled “INCREASED INCENTIVES: DHS Now Offering $3K Holiday Stipend Through End of The Year Via the CBP Home App for Illegal Aliens to Leave Now.” In that document, DHS states that “illegal aliens who sign up to self-deport through the CBP Home app by the end of the year will receive a $3,000 stipend in addition to a free flight home,” and that using the app also qualifies recipients for forgiveness of civil fines or penalties for failing to depart.
A separate DHS press release on December 29, 2025 (“
Americans Ring in 2026 with Safer Communities…”) reiterates the same offer, stating that “those in the
U.S. illegally will receive the $3K stipend and a free flight home if they sign up to self-deport through the CBP Home app by the end of the year.” This indicates the program and its specific terms remained in effect during the final days of 2025.
Major news organizations independently reported on the policy in substantially the same terms. CBS News on December 22, 2025 described DHS as tripling its “exit bonus” from $1,000 to $3,000 for undocumented migrants who register and depart by December 31, specifying that participants using the CBP Home app would receive free airfare and the $3,000 stipend once the government confirms they have left, along with certain waived civil fines.
USA Today on December 22, 2025 likewise reported that DHS was “tripling its payments to undocumented immigrants who deport themselves for the holidays to $3,000 per person” through the CBP Home app, with free travel, and anchored this to a DHS statement from Secretary Kristi Noem. Newsweek and
Bloomberg (via Fortune/Yahoo Finance) also summarized the policy as a temporary offer of a $3,000 “exit bonus” plus paid travel, available to those who self-deport via CBP Home by the end of December.
The Immigration Policy Tracking Project, which compiles primary immigration policy documents, records the May 5, 2025 launch of the CBP Home stipend program and a December 22, 2025 update noting that migrants who register to self-deport through the app by year’s end “will receive a free flight and a $3,000 stipend.” There is no evidence in official releases or reputable reporting of the offer being rescinded, narrowed, or not implemented before the December 31, 2025 deadline.
While DHS’s broader numerical claims about 1.9 million voluntary departures and “tens of thousands” of CBP Home users are not independently verified and should be treated cautiously, multiple high-quality sources confirm that the specific program terms—a $3,000 stipend plus free flight for eligible noncitizens who sign up via CBP Home by the end of 2025—were formally adopted, publicly advertised, and left in place through the promised period. On that basis, the promise to offer this incentive package to self-deporting noncitizens by year’s end is best assessed as complete, even though precise uptake and disbursement figures remain unclear.