Overview

• A DHS letter to shelters outlines a $2,500 offer to unaccompanied minors who choose to return to their countries of origin.
• Initial eligibility focuses on 17-year-olds, with some children ages 14 and up able to opt in, while most Mexican minors are excluded except those who had already expressed interest.
• The payment is issued only after an immigration judge approves the request and the child reaches the home country.
• Child-rights organizations criticize the offer as coercive, with Kids in Need of Defense warning it could pressure asylum-seeking youths to abandon protections.
• The program expands earlier $1,000 subsidies funded by a $250 million State Department allocation, as federal litigation currently limits removals for some Guatemalan youths with pending asylum cases.