The Department of Homeland Security launched a $200 million advertising campaign this past spring that urged migrants to 'self-deport,' dangling an offer that sounded like a darker version of a credit-card promotion. By formalizing their departure through a government app, CBP Home, participants could receive a free plane ticket and a $1,000 cash bonus. Nearly nine months later, about 35,000 people have used CBP Home to leave the country, according to figures I obtained from two DHS officials who track the program. Given the cost of the advertising blitz, as well as the airfare and cash payments, it works out to about $7,500 per self-deportation. The DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin wrote to me that the program, called Project Homecoming, has created 'a smooth, efficient process for illegal aliens to return home' and that 'tens of thousands' of participants have used CBP Home to depart. McLaughlin declined to say what DHS spends per self-deportation, but the department has...
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