A partnership among the Florida Highway Patrol, Florida Division of Emergency Management, and Border Patrol’s Miami Sector is resulting in a pilot program of sorts, allowing non-criminal illegal migrants caught in traffic stops to voluntarily leave with a paid flight to their home country, thereby circumventing detention.
According to the Washington Examiner, “The program has not been publicly announced but has been in effect for several weeks and has seen early success, three federal and state officials told the Washington Examiner this week.”
Jeffrey J. Dinise, chief patrol agent for Border Patrol’s Miami region, descried the partnership as the “first of its kind.”
“The program allows illegal aliens that are noncriminal, that are apprehended by the Border Patrol and the state of Florida law enforcement officers that are 287(g)-trained, to choose whether they want to immediately return to their country of origin or remain in DHS custody pending an immigration hearing with an immigration judge,” Dinise explained, according to the outlet.
Gov. Ron DeSantis also addressed this program earlier this month.
“You’ll be escorted, they’ll make sure you get on the plane, and there’ll be oversight,” DeSantis explained. “You’re not going to be able to abscond, but you will be able to return to your home country without having to go through all this.”
The program follows the same idea touted by federal immigration officials who have repeatedly promoted the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) mobile app, which allows illegal aliens to self-deport rather than wait for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to detain them, a lengthier process.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) formally revealed the app in May, which comes with financial incentives for illegal migrants — a $1,000 dollar stipend issued to them after their return to their home country has been confirmed.
DHS also addressed the naysayers, explaining that this form of self-deportation is far less expensive for U.S. taxpayers, decreasing the cost of deportation by an estimated 70 percent:
Self-deportation is a dignified way to leave the U.S. and will allow illegal aliens to avoid being encountered by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Even with the cost of the stipend, it is projected that the use of CBP Home will decrease the costs of a deportation by around 70 percent. Currently the average cost to arrest, detain, and remove an illegal alien is $17,121.
“If you wait and we bring you to this facility, you don’t ever get to come back to America,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said ahead of the grand opening of Alligator Alcatraz in the Florida Everglades. “You don’t get the chance to come back and be an American again.”
As Breitbart News detailed:
“Everybody who sees these flyers, or anybody who sees these news clips should know you can still go home on your own. You can self-deport. If you go on the CBP home app and go home now, you will get the chance to come back to the United States legally. You will get the chance to come back and do it the right way. If you don’t, you may end up here, ” Noem said, referencing Alligator Alcatraz, “and you may end up here and being processed — deported out of this country and never get the chance to come back.”
RELATED — Self-Deport, or Go to Alligator Alcatraz!
“That is the consequence of breaking the law in the United States of America,” she added.
Unlike the federal program, Florida’s program only covers transportation back to the home country.
DeSantis has also urged migrants to self-deport, telling reporters ahead of the opening of Alligator Alcatraz, “So right when you do the intake, they have the information about voluntary departure.”
“So, even if they get brought to the front doorstep here, they still have an opportunity to just go back voluntarily,” he said.
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