US Offers $2,500 to Unaccompanied Migrant Teens

The Trump administration is offering a one-time $2,500 resettlement stipend to unaccompanied immigrant children aged 14 and older in federal custody to voluntarily return to their home countries, according to letters and memos from the Office of Refugee Resettlement and confirmations from ICE. Government notices say payments would be provided after an immigration judge grants voluntary departure and the child arrives in their country; initial offers targeted 17-year-olds and shelters were given very short deadlines to acknowledge the offer. The program excludes minors from Mexico but also covers children who had already volunteered as of Oct. 3. The move follows earlier DHS efforts that included a $1,000 stipend for adults and transfers of funds to support voluntary removals. Immigration advocates and child welfare lawyers called the program coercive and dangerous, warning the payment could pressure minors into abandoning asylum claims and undermine protections for children fleeing harm. ICE denied the operation—publicly circulated by advocates as “Freaky Friday”—was part of a broader deportation crackdown.