The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced a new incentive on Monday from the Trump administration for illegal aliens who self-deport through the CBP Home App. DHS announced that illegal aliens who self-deport using the application will be forgiven for any civil fines or penalties for failing to depart, receive cost-free travel, and will still receive a $1,000 exit bonus to be paid upon confirmation of their return through the app.
The announcement came as violent riots in Los Angeles continued into their fourth day with mounting attacks against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials and vehicles.
“If you are here illegally, use the CBP Home App to take control of your departure and receive financial support to return home,” Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement.
She appealed to illegal aliens still in the country, “If you don’t, you will be subjected to fines, arrest, deportation and will never be allowed to return. If you are in this country illegally, self-deport NOW and preserve your opportunity to potentially return the legal, right way.”
Today, DHS is announcing illegal aliens who self-deport through the CBP Home App will receive forgiveness of any failure to depart fines, in addition to cost-free travel and a $1,000 exit bonus.
By self-deporting, illegal aliens take control of their departure and may preserve…
According to reporting from the BBC, and Politico 65, illegal aliens have successfully participated in “Project Homecoming,” and received the offered free travel and $1,000 stipend. DHS told the Daily Signal that over 40,000 illegal aliens had registered with the government via the CBP Home App as of May 5th. As reported by NPR, Adam Isacson of the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), a nonprofit immigrant advocacy group, estimated that ICE detention centers are currently operating at approximately 125% capacity.
“If you are here illegally, self-deportation is the best, safest, and most cost-effective way to leave the United States to avoid arrest. DHS is now offering illegal aliens financial travel assistance and a stipend to return to their home country through the CBP Home App,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem explained at the time.
ICE confirmed to the outlet that “some ICE facilities are experiencing temporary overcrowding due to recent increases in detention populations. We are actively implementing measures to manage capacity while maintaining compliance with federal standards and our commitment to humane treatment. The reality is that these accusations do not reflect ICE’s policies or practices.”
“This is the safest option for our law enforcement, aliens, and is a 70% savings for U.S. taxpayers. Download the CBP Home App TODAY and self-deport,” Noem said.
Under the leadership of @POTUS Trump we will put the safety of American citizens FIRST not these criminal illegal aliens that sanctuary city politicians are defending. ICE will continue to enforce the law.
During an appearance on Fox News Monday evening, Noem warned: “ICE will continue to enforce the law. If you lay a hand on a law enforcement officer, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
All of Arizona’s 15 counties are now undertaking efforts to remove any illegal aliens from their voter rolls following a lawsuit filed by America First Legal (AFL), a right-wing nonprofit.
There is no certainty as to how many — if any — illegal aliens exist on Arizona’s voter rolls. There are nearly 50,000 individuals registered to vote in the state that only vote in federal races because they did not provide proof of citizenship. These voters are known as “federal-only” voters.
AFL filed its lawsuit last year and secured settlements in waves, first from Yavapai and Mohave counties last year and then the remaining counties last week. Per a press release from AFL on Monday, all 15 county recorders are now obtaining assistance from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to verify the citizenship status of all registered voters who have not provided proof of citizenship.
AFL explained it filed the lawsuit because it believed the county recorders were not “utilizing all available resources” for citizenship verification, despite Arizona law requiring monthly voter roll maintenance to purge noncitizen voters; federal law also permits state and local to seek confirmation of citizenship status.
AFL senior counsel James Rogers expressed further confidence in Arizona’s election integrity going forward with these settlements.
“This settlement is a great result for all Arizonans. This will help County Recorders find and remove any aliens on their voter rolls,” said Rogers. “It will also potentially enfranchise federal-only voters whose citizenship is confirmed, which would allow them to vote in State and local elections. AFL congratulates each of Arizona’s 15 County Recorders for taking this bold and important step for election integrity in the State.”
AFL filed the lawsuit on behalf of Strong Communities Foundation of Arizona, also known as “EZAZ,” and registered voter Yvonne Cahill.
As reported by AZ Free News, there were over 11,600 federal-only voters who cast a ballot in the 2020 presidential election.
On the day of his inauguration earlier this year, President Donald Trump issued an executive order requiring the DHS secretary and personnel to equip state and local governments with all necessary resources and tools to secure confirmation of citizenship and immigration status. Trump followed up this directive with another executive order last month directing DHS to share its citizenship and immigration status database with states.
Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap said he plans on complying with the settlement once he secures an IT team.
“We will have transparency in our elections. We will have integrity. One citizen, one vote. But I am unable to do that when the office of the Recorder is being deliberately gutted by insiders who like the status quo…” said Heap. “I wasn’t elected to beg unelected bureaucrats for the right to carry out the will of the voters and my statutory duties. Maricopa County needs to stop playing games and let me do my job.”
🧵I am eager to send DHS a request allowing us to check Maricopa County’s voter rolls against their database of non-citizens.
But I can’t do that without an IT team.
I am committed to delivering on the promises I made during my campaign… https://t.co/j4ADGyvOfc
— Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap (@azjustinheap) April 9, 2025
Heap was referring to an ongoing disagreement with the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors over the reduction of his office’s authorities under an agreement executed months before Heap took office.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
Most illegal immigrants crossing the border are released into the United States.
In a recent meeting with federal officials that was broadcasted by Fox News journalist Bill Melugin, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas reportedly “admitted that the current release rate for migrants caught crossing the border illegally is ‘above 85%.’”
BREAKING: Per three Border Patrol sources who were in the room, while meeting privately with agents in Eagle Pass, TX today, DHS Sec. Mayorkas admitted that the current release rate for migrants caught crossing the border illegally is “above 85%”. I’m awaiting comment from DHS.
Melugin added context in a later post, divulging his conversation with a DHS official on background, which did not amount to a denial of Mayorkas’ admission to Border Patrol agents. The Fox News reporter was able to share an official statement from the department, that read, “After the ending of Title 42 in May, through the end of the fiscal year, DHS removed or returned more noncitizens without a basis to remain in the United States than in any other five-month period in the last ten years. In fact, the majority of all Southwest Border migrant encounters throughout this Administration have been removed, returned, or expelled – the majority of them. We are doing everything we can, within a broken system, to incentivize noncitizens to use lawful pathways, to impose consequences on those who do not, and to reduce irregular migration.”
UPDATE: On background, a DHS official did not deny Mayorkas said this today, but said the context is that releases “ebb and flow”. They provided the following statement:
"After the ending of Title 42 in May, through the end of the fiscal year, DHS removed or returned more…
The crisis at America’s southern border has deteriorated out of control in the past year, after steadily expanding in the first two years of the Biden administration. In Fiscal Year 2021, which Biden inherited, there were 1,734,686 encounters at the Southwest Border. In FY 2022, there were 2,378,944 apprehensions, and then 2,475,669 in the just-completed fiscal year (2023) – a record number. Already in FY 2024, there have been 483,404 arrests of illegal immigrants – with December’s reported number of over ‘300,000’ encounters still outstanding from CBP’s official chart.
While these apprehension numbers are concerning, the figures do not represent the worst of the situation at the border. Almost two million ‘gotaways’ have been estimated to have entered the country since Biden took office in January 2021. Also, the amount of fentanyl seized at the border has increased over the years, leading to educated speculation that much more of this deadly drug is finding its way around law enforcement and into communities from coast to coast.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
Thousands of migrants from potentially troublesome countries are being apprehended at America’s southern border, while many others could be slipping past law enforcement.
On Tuesday, Fox News journalist Bill Melugin reported that “Internal CBP data provided & confirmed by CBP sources reveals thousands of ‘special interest aliens’ from mostly Middle Eastern countries have been apprehended by Border Patrol while crossing into U.S. illegally over last 2 years.”
NEW: Internal CBP data provided & confirmed by CBP sources reveals thousands of “special interest aliens” from mostly Middle Eastern countries have been apprehended by Border Patrol while crossing into U.S. illegally over last 2 years.
Melugin clarified that “a special interest alien is a term used by the U.S. government to refer to people coming from countries that have conditions that favor or harbor terrorism, or pose a potential national security to the U.S.”
From 10/1/2021 to 10/4/2023, the following apprehensions by nation of origin were reported:
Syria: 538
Yemen: 139
Iran: 659
Iraq: 123
Afghanistan: 6,386
Lebanon: 164
Egypt: 3,153
Pakistan: 1,613
Mauritania: 15,594
Uzbekistan: 13,624
Turkey: 30,830
The decorated reporter added some concerning context for his report, writing, “Border Patrol sources tell me they have extreme concerns about who is coming into the country because they have little to no way of vetting people from these special interest countries. I’m told unless they have committed a crime previously in the US, or they are on some sort of federal watchlist, there’s no way to know who they are because most of their home countries don’t share data/records with the US so there is nothing to match a name to when BP agents run fingerprints.”
The number of apprehensions from ‘special interest countries’ follows continuing reports of an increase in the number of suspected terrorists who have been encountered this fiscal year, along with the ‘gotaways’ who have escaped detection from law enforcement. Over 150 suspected terrorists have already been nabbed over the past eleven months, which was a stark rise from the previous year (when 98 suspected terrorists were arrested at the southern border). According to CBP data, only 26 total suspected terrorists were apprehended at the southern border from Fiscal Years 17-21.
If the issues of “special interest nations” and “suspected terrorists” apprehensions weren’t bad enough for the country, the number of ‘gotaways’ present a far-greater problem for the United States. More than 1.5 million of these individuals are estimated to have escaped capture by border officials, meaning that they likely are anywhere within the American homeland. Adding to fears from law enforcement, the identities and motives of these aliens are almost entirely unknown.
Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen addressed this danger in his statement about the horrific terrorist attack in Israel over the weekend. Petersen said, “Our own country must remain vigilant, as our wide open border, ignored by Joe Biden and Democrats, remains one of the greatest threats to our national security. This same situation can happen at anytime on our own soil, and we call on the federal government to take immediate action.”
Arizona Senate Republicans condemn the horrific violence happening against civilians and Americans in Israel. – @votewarren ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/tyPJQsXgkb
Gov. Katie Hobbs wants to ensure that illegal immigrants get a taxpayer-funded college education; she proposed an initial $40 million investment to realize this goal.
Hobbs issued the proposal during her State of the State Address on Monday in the Capitol. She named the proposed investment after those qualified to remain in the country under former President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
“In line with the will of Arizona’s voters in passing Proposition 308 this past November, my budget allocates $40 million to create the Promise For Dreamers Scholarship Program to cover all students, regardless of immigration status,” stated Hobbs.
Hobbs’ proposal brought some of the loudest cheers from the Democrats on the floor.
In a subsequent statement on Twitter, Hobbs described opposition to Prop 308 and outrage over illegal immigration as “politicized.” She relieved President Joe Biden of much of his responsibility for the border crisis, instead insisting that both Democrats and Republicans were to blame.
“Unfortunately, immigration has been politicized for far too long. Arizona voters told us in November they don’t want or need political stunts designed solely to garner sensationalist TV coverage and generate social media posts,” stated Hobbs.
When I speak to leaders in Arizona’s border communities, they agree they need real solutions after decades of failed leadership by both parties. #HobbsSOTS#SOTS2023pic.twitter.com/EbOBUHaAyJ
Hobbs’ remarks follow the narrow passage of Proposition 308, which awards in-state college tuition rates to Dreamers. The proposition was backed by at least $1.2 million of out-of-state dark money network funding.
Following Prop 308, the state’s universities moved quickly to offer scholarships to illegal immigrant students. Northern Arizona University (NAU), one of the latest, partnered with a scholarship program fund operated by the New Venture Fund, one nonprofit arm of one of the nation’s leading leftist dark money networks, Arabella Advisors. Those eligible for these scholarships include illegal immigrant students eligible for deportation.
Arizona voters don’t just vote on people, we vote on policy too!
Prop 308 gives AZ Dreamers equal affordability if they attend a state school, has bipartisan support, and puts no additional costs on the taxpayer.
Hobbs proposes this additional $40 million, though Arizona already spends hundreds of millions on K-12 illegal immigrant children’s education. In 2020, illegal immigrant students cost Arizona public schools over $748 million. 99 percent of those funds come from local and state taxes, not the federal government.
Some Republicans have supported improving tuition affordability for illegal immigrant students. Last summer, the Arizona House awarded a proclamation to an illegal immigrant activist group for advocating for in-state tuition and education for illegal immigrants. The group, Aliento, was co-founded by a DACA recipient or “Dreamer,” Reyna Montoya.
Montoya graduated from Arizona State University (ASU) with degrees in political science and transborder studies, with recognition as “Most Outstanding Undergraduate Student,” before earning a master’s degree there in secondary education.
During Hobbs’ address, members of the Arizona Freedom Caucus staged a walkout in protest of Hobbs’ agenda. The caucus criticized Hobbs, claiming that she failed to address the real concerns facing Arizonans. State Sen. Jake Hoffman (R-LD15), the caucus chairman, claimed that Hobbs was exploiting her executive power to a tyrannical degree.
“We’re seeing a new breed of Democratic Fascism take hold of the Governor’s office,” stated Hoffman.
State Rep. Jacqueline Parker (R-LD15), vice chairwoman of the caucus, said that it was wrong for legislators to remain before Hobbs while she spoke, claiming it was complicity in Hobbs’ use of office for activism.
“We could not sit idly by while she repeatedly declared her intention to advance her woke agenda that stands at odds with the people of our state,” said Parker.
