DHS increasing self-deportation stipend from $1,000 to $2,600
DHS is using the CBP Home Mobile App to incentivize self-deportation. (Department of Homeland Security)
(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Homeland Security announced on Wednesday that it is increasing its stipend for those who are in the United States illegally and self-deport by $1,600.
Previously, DHS offered $1,000 to those who use the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Home App to self-deport, but now, it’s raising that number to $2,600.
DHS claimed that since January 2025, 2.2 million people who are in the U.S. illegally have voluntarily self-deported — with “tens of thousands” using the CBP app. A report from the Brookings Institution released last week called DHS’ data into question, saying the department’s numbers “should not be considered a serious source.”
“To celebrate one year of this administration, the U.S. taxpayer is generously increasing the incentive to leave voluntarily for those in this country illegally- offering a $2,600 exit bonus,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a release. “Illegal aliens should take advantage of this gift and self-deport because if they don’t, we will find them, we will arrest them, and they will never return.”
The increased amount is to mark to the first year of President Donald Trump’s term in office, and may only be temporary, DHS said in the release.
For months, the department has been pushing self-deportations — spending millions on advertisements that showcased it’s previous $1,000 payment and a plane ticket that people who register to self-deport are given.
It’s not clear how much money in total has been given to people who have self-deported.
DHS said in the first year of Trump’s term, there were 675,000 deportations. The authors of the Brookings Institution report estimated a figure much lower last week — saying there were between 310,000 and 315,000 removals in 2025.
Deporting migrants who are illegally in the U.S. was one of Trump’s key campaign promises, but advocates have said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol tactics have gone too far in some cases.
he U.S. Supreme Court is seen on March 04, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump attacked the U.S. court system in two posts on social media over the weekend, including disparaging a Supreme Court ruling over his use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to implement tariffs.
He also took aim at a ruling by a U.S. District Judge James Boasberg on Friday that blocked the Justice Department’s subpoenas as part of their criminal investigation into Fed Chair Jerome Powell.
“The decision that mattered most to me was TARIFFS! The Court knew where I stood,” Trump said on Sunday night.
The Supreme Court last month delivered a major blow to Trump by invalidating most of his global tariffs, a cornerstone of his economic policy in his second term. In a 6-3 decision, written by Chief Justice John Roberts, the court concluded that IEEPA did not give Trump the power to unilaterally impose tariffs because the Constitution gives Congress the sole authority to raise revenue from Americans.
Trump on Sunday night derided the high court’s decision, claiming that the “Democrats on the Court always ‘stick together,’ no matter how strong a case is put before them.”
Trump also took a dig at Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett, both of whom the president appointed during his first term to the nation’s highest court, accusing them of going “out of their way, with bad and wrongful rulings and intentions, to prove how ‘honest,’ ‘independent,’ and ‘legitimate’ they are.”
Notwithstanding the criticism, Gorsuch and Barrett have been reliable conservative votes on the court, consistently voting in favor of positions backed by the Trump administration. Last year, Barrett authored the landmark 6-3 decision restricting the ability of lower court judges from issuing nationwide injunctions against Trump policies.
Trump claimed the court’s decision on tariffs meant the U.S. “was unnecessarily RANSACKED” and called the court “a weaponized and unjust Political Organization.”
“They are hurting our Country, and will continue to do so. All I can do, as President, is call them out for their bad behavior! This statement about the United States Supreme Court will cause me nothing but problems in the future, but I feel it is my obligation to speak the TRUTH,” Trump wrote, seemingly acknowledging the potential backlash he might receive over his attacks.
Trump on the day after that ruling said he would raise those tariffs to 15%. Twenty-four states are suing the Trump administration over those duties, saying they’re illegal because the president does not have the power to impose them.
Tariffs aside, the court’s conservative majority ruled overwhelmingly in Trump’s favor during this first year of his second term, approving nearly all of the administration’s unprecedented number of emergency applications seeking a green light for government layoffs, federal funding freezes, expedited removal of immigrants, and expulsion of transgender military service members.
In 2024, the court extended sweeping immunity to Trump in the face of criminal prosecution, which Trump called a “big win for our Constitution and democracy” at the time.
In a second social media post, Trump claimed that the U.S. court system had singled him out and treated him and other Republicans in a politicized manner.
“The Courts treat Republicans, and me, so unfairly, always seeming to protect those who should not be protected,” Trump said. “They are highly politicized. Cases don’t matter, the Judge does!”
He then blasted the Friday ruling by Boasberg, a top federal judge in Washington, that blocked the Justice Department from subpoenaing the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors after determining the government “produced essentially zero evidence” to support a criminal investigation of Powell, the Fed chair.
“How is this absolutely terrible Federal Reserve Chairman, Jerome ‘Too Late’ Powell, not even allowed to be investigated for the horrible job he does?” Trump wrote.
Powell in January had rebuked the investigation, describing it in a video message as a politically motivated effort to influence the Fed’s interest rate policy.
The president on Sunday also attacked Boasberg, who authored the ruling.
“I strongly criticized Jerome ‘Too Late’ for his horrible performance throughout his tenure, which is either gross incompetence, total dishonesty, or both, and, in return for this well justified criticism, get viciously and wrongfully blamed by, as usual, a Wacky, Nasty, Crooked, and totally Out of Control Judge, named James Boasberg, a man who suffers from the highest level of Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS), and has been ‘after’ my people, and me, for years,” Trump wrote.
“In case after case, Boasberg has displayed open, flagrant, and extreme partisan bias and contempt against Republicans and the Trump Administration,” Trump added later in the post.
The president then called for Boasberg to be removed from cases related to Trump and his administration, claiming “he is exactly what Judges should not be!”
Acting U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said on Friday that Boasberg was an “activist” judge, adding that the Justice Department planned to appeal the ruling.
Following a previous round of Trump attacks on Boasberg last year, Roberts issued a rare public statement defending the judge and judiciary.
(WASHINGTON) — Several artists have cancelled their upcoming performances at the newly renamed Trump-Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., publicly voicing their opposition to President Donald Trump’s name being added to the signage of the building last week.
Jazz musician Chuck Redd canceled his Christmas Eve event, while jazz group The Cookers announced on social media that they will be cancelling their New Year’s Eve performance at the cultural center.
On Monday evening, Doug Varone and Dancers, a New York dance company, announced in an Instagram post that it was canceling its scheduled April performances.
Posting an image of the official portrait of late President John F. Kennedy, Doug Varone and Dancers wrote that it was an “honor” to be invited to perform, but the group “totally disagreed with the takeover by the Trump Administration at the Kennedy Center.”
” … With the latest act of Donald J. Trump renaming the Center after himself, we can no longer permit ourselves nor ask our audiences to step inside this once great institution,” the statement said, in part.
“The Kennedy Center was named in honor of our 35th President who fervently believed that the arts were the beating heart of our nation, as well as an integral part of international diplomacy. We hope in three-year’s time, that the Center and its reputation will return to that glory,” the statement continued.
After the renaming last week, folk singer Kristy Lee announced in an Instagram post that she is canceling a free performance scheduled for Jan. 14 at the center.
“I won’t lie to you, canceling shows hurts. This is how I keep the lights on. But losing my integrity would cost me more than any paycheck,” Lee wrote in the post.
Richard Grenell, the Trump-appointed president of the Trump-Kennedy Center, criticized the recent cancellations in a Monday evening X post, where he cast the musicians as “far left political activists.”
“The artists who are now canceling shows were booked by the previous far left leadership,” Grenell wrote.
“Their actions prove that the previous team was more concerned about booking far left political activists rather than artists willing to perform for everyone regardless of their political beliefs. Boycotting the Arts to show you support the Arts is a form of derangement syndrome. The arts are for everyone and the left is mad about it,” he added.
Grenell also indicated in a letter addressed to Redd, who canceled his Christmas Eve show, that the center plans to file a $1 million lawsuit against the jazz musician and called the move a “political stunt.”
It is unclear if Redd has obtained legal representation. ABC News reached out to him for comment.
The cancellations came after the Trump administration announced on Dec. 18 that the board at the Kennedy Center, which Trump now chairs and is newly filled with his appointees, voted “unanimously” to rename the building the “Trump-Kennedy Center.” The signage was updated a day later.
The national cultural center, which is located on the banks of the Potomac River, was originally named the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to honor the late president, and it first opened its doors on Sept. 8, 1971.
Trump, who was sworn in for his second term as president on Jan. 20, dismissed most of the Board of Trustees during his first weeks back in office and replaced them with his own appointees. In February 2025, the new board announced that they had elected Trump as chairman.
Several musicians also cancelled performances or engagements at the Center earlier this year after Trump was elected as chair.
The artists who cancelled shows over the past year include musician Rhiannon Giddens, rock band Low Cut Connie and actor Issa Rae. Meanwhile, musician Ben Folds resigned from his role as the adviser to the center’s National Symphony Orchestra and producer Shonda Rhimes resigned as treasurer of the Kennedy Center’s board.
Singer and actress Renée Fleming also resigned from her role as artistic advisor at large after Trump purged the Center’s leadership. Fleming is scheduled to perform at the Trump-Kennedy Center in May 2026.
Writer Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hit musical “Hamilton,” which was scheduled for a run at the Kennedy Center in the spring of 2026, was canceled back in March.
“We have sadly seen decades of Kennedy Center neutrality be destroyed,” the show’s producer Jeffrey Seller wrote in a statement posted to Facebook.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a social media post that the board voted to rename the center “because of the unbelievable work President Trump has done over the last year in saving the building.”
The post appears to refer to recent restorations and renovations that were touted by Trump during his speech at the Kennedy Center Honors dinner on Dec. 7.
House Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty, who serves as an ex officio member of the center’s board, sued Trump on Monday, arguing that the board’s vote to rename the building was illegal because an act of Congress is required for such an action.
Asked for comment on the lawsuit, White House spokesperson Liz Huston instead told ABC News in a statement on Monday that the Kennedy Center’s board voted to rename it after Trump “stepped up and saved the old Kennedy Center.”
ABC News’ Chad Murray, Hannah Demissie, Isabella Murray, Michelle Stoddart, Karen Travers, Lauren Peller and Alex Ederson contributed to this report.
U.S. President Donald Trump arrives for a Medal of Honor Ceremony in the East Room of the White House on March 02, 2026, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he will soon make an endorsement in the heated Texas Senate Republican primary, as Sen. John Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton head toward a runoff election in May.
Trump also expressed his desire for the non-endorsed candidate to concede.
“The Republican Primary Race for the United States Senate in the Great State of Texas, a State I LOVE and won 3 times in Record Numbers (the HIGHEST vote ever recorded, by far!!!), cannot, for the good of the Party, and our Country, itself, be allowed to go on any longer. IT MUST STOP NOW!” Trump wrote on his social media platform.
“I will be making my Endorsement soon, and will be asking the candidate that I don’t Endorse to immediately DROP OUT OF THE RACE! Is that fair? We must win in November!!!” Trump wrote.
The president’s post came hours after Senate Republican leadership urged Trump to back Cornyn, a four-term Republican senator, over Paxton, a conservative firebrand who has become popular among Trump’s MAGA base despite being involved in several scandals.
Neither Cornyn nor Paxton captured 50% of the vote on Tuesday night’s primary. Republican Rep. Wesley Hunt, who was also running in the primary, has conceded.
The winner of the GOP primary will face Democrat James Talarico, a 36-year-old Presbyterian seminarian and former teacher who defeated Rep. Jasmine Crockett on Tuesday night.
At stake in this year’s midterm cycle is Trump’s hold on Congress, where Republicans have narrow majorities in both the House and Senate.
“We need to hold that seat, which means we need to nominate somebody that’s going to win in November. And to me, that’s only one of those two that’s going to make it to the runoff: and that is John Cornyn,” Republican Whip John Barrasso said on Wednesday. “I would encourage the president to endorse him. The president will make his on his own time.”
Barrasso noted higher turnout on Tuesday night among Democratic voters, which he said “shows that the energy and enthusiasm is there on the Democrat side.
“We need to nominate somebody who attracts voters across the state of Texas, and that’s John Cornyn,” Barrasso said.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he’s hopeful that Trump will endorse Cornyn and save the GOP’s campaign arm from continuing to have to spend heavily to help Cornyn defeat Paxton. Cornyn and his allies already spent more than $70 million on ad spending, according to tracking firm AdImpact.
“Cornyn had, in my view — had a great night. And you know, wins. He’s positioned to win the runoff,” Thune said. “And if the president endorses early, it saves everybody a lot of money and lot of just, 10 weeks of spirited campaign on our side that keeps us from spending time focusing on the Democrats.”
Thune said that a hard-fought primary runoff between two Republican candidates is “not helpful.”
“Which is why, if the president can weigh in, it would be enormously helpful,” Thune said.
Thune later told Fox News that he spoke with Trump on Wednesday and reiterated his support for Cornyn, though he said Trump “makes his own decisions.”
Throughout the course of the primary election, Trump’s avoided making an endorsement, claiming that Cornyn, Paxton and Hunt were all “excellent” candidates and his “friends.”
Trump, in his social media post on Wednesday, praised Cornyn and Paxton for running “good races” but said they were “not good enough.”
“We have an easy to beat, Radical Left Opponent, and we have to TOTALLY FOCUS on putting him away, quickly and decisively! Both John and Ken ran great races, but not good enough. Now, this one, must be PERFECT!” Trump wrote.
ABC News’ Diana Paulsen contributed to this report.
