On Monday, the United States flew 68 migrants from Honduras and Colombia back to their home countries. It marked the first government-funded flight under a program the Trump administration calls voluntary deportations.
Among those returning was a Honduran migrant who arrived at San Pedro Sula’s Ramon Villeda Morales Airport, walking off the plane voluntarily after leaving the U.S.
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The flight carried 38 Hondurans, including 19 children, who stepped off the plane holding $1,000 debit cards provided by the U.S. government. They were also promised a future opportunity to apply for legal entry into the United States.
President Donald Trump has vowed to increase deportations significantly. Experts say the voluntary return option may appeal to a small group of migrants already considering going home, but it’s unlikely to draw widespread interest. This initiative has been launched alongside well-publicized migrant detentions and the transfer of hundreds of Venezuelan migrants to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador.
Kevin Antonio Posadas, a Tegucigalpa native who spent three years in Houston, had already been thinking about going back to Honduras when the offer was announced.
“I wanted to see my family and my mom,” Posadas said, describing the return process as simple.
“You just apply through the CBP Home app and in three days you’ve got it,” he explained. The flight departed early Monday from Houston. “It’s good because you save the cost of the flight if you’ve already decided to leave.”
Posadas said he wasn’t afraid of deportation and enjoyed living in the U.S., but returning home had been on his mind. He’s also open to the possibility of reapplying for legal entry under the U.S. offer for self-deportees.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem emphasized the message: “If you are here illegally, use the CBP Home App to take control of your departure and receive financial support to return home. If you don’t, you will be subjected to fines, arrest, deportation and will never be allowed to return.”
An additional 26 migrants on the flight returned to Colombia, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Honduras’ Deputy Foreign Minister Antonio GarcÃa announced that the Honduran government would offer each returnee $100 in cash and a $200 store credit at a government-run shop selling essential items.
Among those on Monday’s flight were four children born in the U.S., GarcÃa said.
He met with the returning migrants at the airport, where they told him that living undocumented in the U.S. had become increasingly hard. They said the environment was growing more hostile, and many feared going to work.
Despite the new U.S. efforts, Honduras immigration director Wilson Paz noted that deportation numbers were still down from the previous year.
Roughly 13,500 Hondurans have been deported from the U.S. so far this year, compared to over 15,000 by this time in 2024.
Paz doesn’t expect deportations to surge, even with the Trump administration’s push.
“Some people will continue applying for self-deportation because they feel their time in the U.S. is over or it’s getting harder to find work,” he said. “I don’t think it will be thousands who apply. Our responsibility is to ensure they return in an orderly manner and receive support.”
