The Trump administration is moving ahead with a plan that would provide financial incentives to migrant teenagers in federal custody who agree to return to their home countries. The Department of Health and Human Services confirmed that the program will initially apply to 17-year-olds, offering $2,500 to those who voluntarily depart after an immigration judge grants approval and they arrive back in their country of origin, according to a person familiar with the development.
In a statement, HHS said the program was created to give unaccompanied minors meaningful options. Officials noted that many children arrive in the United States without their families, often brought in through smuggling networks, and argued that the initiative would allow them to make an informed decision about whether to remain or go home.
Advocates and immigration lawyers raised concerns that the scope of the program could expand to include children as young as 14. They warned that the scheme could push minors to abandon applications for protection, such as asylum, and forfeit legal safeguards designed to shield them from deportation before turning 18.
Wendy Young, president of the advocacy group Kids in Need of Defense, condemned the program as an “egregious abuse of power.” She added, “This operation undermines laws that guarantee that process for unaccompanied children, and it runs counter to our nation’s longstanding commitment to protect the most vulnerable among us, children, from violence, trafficking, abuse, persecution, and other grave dangers. We urge DHS to immediately halt its operation and ensure that every child in US custody has access to the rights and protections enshrined in US law.”
Immigrant children in the United States are afforded higher levels of protection under federal law, including a decades-old court settlement that restricts the government’s ability to detain them. Yet unlike adults in immigration cases, children are not guaranteed legal representation to help navigate the system.
As of August, federal records show that the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which falls under HHS, was responsible for the care of an average of 2,000 immigrant children.
