U.S. Offers $2,500 to Migrant Minors to Return Home and Waive Legal Rights

Payment to migrant minors to return them home

Waiver of legal rights

Controversy over DHS program

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has launched a controversial plan offering $2,500 to unaccompanied migrant teenagers who voluntarily decide to return to their home countries, thereby waiving the legal protections granted to them under U.S. law.

According to reports, the program targets minors in government custody who are over 14 years old, although some documents suggest the minimum age could be reduced to 10.

An internal federal notice reviewed by U.S. media states that:

The DHS “will provide a one-time resettlement support stipend of $2,500… to unaccompanied alien children aged 14 and older who have chosen to voluntarily depart the United States.”

U.S. Offers Payment to Migrant Minors to Return Home

The Donald Trump administration announced that it would pay $2,500 to migrant children who voluntarily return to their countries of origin.
ICE did not specify when the offer would take effect, but The Associated Press obtained an email sent to migrant shelters with the new instructions… pic.twitter.com/RV0AQLQmxM

— El Universal (@El_Universal_Mx) October 5, 2025

The document, titled Family Reintegration Assistance Program, indicates that eligible minors are housed in shelters managed by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which reported around 2,000 children in custody as of August.

RELATED: Federal Operation in Chicago Leads to Over 1,000 Arrests of Undocumented Immigrants

According to The Associated Press, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has not specified when the program will begin.

However, it confirmed the existence of an email sent to migrant shelters instructing staff to offer payments to youths aged 14 and older.

Migrant Minors Return Program Details and Scope

The Trump administration offers $2,500 to migrant minors to voluntarily return to their countries of origin. https://t.co/Y9cirThrEl

— Noticias Telemundo (@TelemundoNews) October 3, 2025

Teenagers would have 24 hours to decide whether to accept the offer. If they do, their departure would be reviewed by an immigration judge.

The financial incentive would be delivered only after the minor arrives in their home country, according to Telemundo.

Immigrant rights organizations immediately condemned the measure, warning that it could endanger thousands of children who fled violence or extreme poverty.

Criticism Over Risks to Migrant Children’s Rights

Wendy Young, president of Kids in Need of Defense, called the migrant minors return program “a blatant abuse of power and a cruel tactic that uses children as pawns.”

Young added that these minors “deserve protection, not pressure to return to the same places where their lives were at risk.” She warned that the initiative “forces the most vulnerable to choose between their safety and indefinite detention.”

Various organizations agree that such policies reflect an escalation of the U.S. government’s hardline immigration stance toward unaccompanied minors.