Overview

• A Health and Human Services memo sent Friday notifies shelters and legal providers that unaccompanied children 14 and older may receive a one-time $2,500 resettlement stipend if they elect voluntary departure, with the initial offer going to 17-year-olds and excluding Mexican nationals.
• ICE and HHS describe the offer as a strictly voluntary option, and agencies say funds are disbursed only after an immigration judge approves the request and the child arrives in their country of origin.
• According to details reported by the Associated Press, shelters were asked to acknowledge receipt of the notice within four hours, and eligible children were given 24 hours to respond without penalty for declining.
• Child-welfare and immigrant-advocacy groups condemn the incentive as coercive and warn it could pressure minors to abandon potential protection claims, citing long-standing safeguards under federal law.
• The stipend expands a broader self-deportation drive that has included $1,000 offers for adults and a $250 million State Department transfer to DHS, even as recent court orders have constrained removals of some Guatemalan minors and roughly 2,000 children remain in HHS custody.