Trump seeks “help” from undocumented immigrants to boost deportation numbers

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Washington, DC – Below is a column by Maribel Hastings from America’s Voice en Español translated to English from Spanish. It ran in several Spanish-language media outlets earlier this week:

It seems that President Donald Trump has not been able to deport the millions that he desired in the first months under his belt, despite trampling on the due process rights of those directly impacted by his policies. Now he wants those same undocumented immigrants to self-deport to accomplish his main campaign promise: the largest deportation operation ever seen in the United States.

The administration says this is to reduce costs. But even though the Trump administration does not respect due process, (and now seems to believe that the Constitution does not apply to them), conducts summary deportations, and ignores judicial orders to return those they illegitimately deported from the United States, the deportation numbers are not what Trump had hoped for.

According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), since January 20, Trump has deported 152,000 immigrants. This figure is less than the 192,000 that Biden deported in the same period in 2024.

That is why Trump even wants to deport people who are authorized to be in the country, some in the process of obtaining asylum, as well as students on visas, for opposing the administration’s policies. And that is why he has removed US citizen children with their undocumented parents. While technically, a U.S. citizen cannot be deported, in practice, that is what has happened.

This includes the abduction and transfer of Venezuelans and Salvadorans to the controversial CECOT prison in El Salvador. This is used as an incentive in his plans to get more undocumented people to self-deport.

The media have reported on cases of Venezuelans who, fearful of ending up in CECOT, prefer to leave the United States with their family and all. But undocumented people from other nationalities have also done so. The Trump administration accuses the majority of immigrants of being “terrorists” or “gang members,” without offering proof (or even manufacturing proof), leading some to prefer avoiding the bitter pill of ending up in a foreign jail without the possibility of ever seeing their families again.

The terror strategy of DHS and immigration authorities is reflected in publicity campaigns in immigrants’ countries of origin, saying that those who are still there should not cross to the United States, and those who are here in the US should self-deport through the CBP Home application.

The “magnanimous” Trump promises a return ticket and $1,000 payment to those who do it, although, owing to his history, it’s not very likely that the immigrant will ever get paid. They promise that the money will be paid once it is confirmed that they are in their countries of origin.

Undocumented people who have spent their whole lives contributing billions of dollars to the economy, to the fabric of this country, who work in key industries, and who have citizen children and grandchildren, deserve to be legalized. Not given $1,000 and a one-way ticket to self-deport.

Moreover, according to legal experts cited in the media, self deportation could result in the activation of bars to returning to the United States for years, maybe ever.

“At no point in the application or in the process of registering oneself does it indicate that this will give you voluntary departure,” said Mariela García, President of the Puerto Rico chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), to Univision News.

“Voluntary departure is a legal process in which the government has to authorize the person to leave … and it does not constitute a deportation or removal…. What that means is that if the person has another way to return, legally, to the United States, they do not have to wait X number of years outside before applying for this remedy. These ‘self-deportations’ are ones where people just up and leave, without authorization by the immigration court,” the lawyer explained.

The recommendation is for immigrants to consult with a lawyer before self-deporting, so as not to affect their probability of being able to return to the United States eventually.

An article in La Opinión cites Guatemalan immigrant Mayra Todd, summing it up this way: “I already have a life here. I don’t have anybody in Guatemala. How can I start over again with $1,000? This President needs a psychological exam.” And, she urged him to legalize them. “That is how we can work and live without fear, instead of attacking us. He doesn’t want to see all the work we have done.”

Work and effort that Trump does not recognize, because it’s contrary to his narrative that we are being “invaded” by undocumented “criminals.” The same ones who he wants to self-deport, to help him increase the numbers behind his deportation machine.

The original Spanish version is here.