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.
U.S. Sailors prepare ordnance on the flight deck of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in support of Operation Epic Fury, Mar. 4, 2026. (US Navy)
(WASHINGTON) — Russian officials denied in a phone call with President Donald Trump that they are sharing intelligence on U.S. military assets with Iran, U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff said Tuesday.
“We can take them at their word,” Witkoff said during an interview with CNBC. “That’s a better question for the intel people, but let’s hope that they’re not sharing.”
Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin Monday for about an hour.
“Yesterday on the call with the president, the Russians said that they have not been sharing. That’s what they said,” Witkoff said.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Tuesday that Trump and Witkoff sent a message to Russia that “if that was taking place. It’s not something they would be happy with, and they hope that it is not taking place.”
“As for further details about the discussions between these two leaders, I’ll leave it to the president to divulge any more of that conversation,” Leavitt said.
ABC News reported on Friday that the U.S. believes that Russia has been providing Iran the locations of American troops in the Middle East, including aircraft and ships, according to two people familiar with the intelligence.
An intelligence official confirmed to ABC News the U.S. belief that Russia is providing intelligence to Iran but did not say exactly what type of information was being shared.
The intelligence sharing could enable the Iranians to target specific locations with ballistic missiles and drones, putting U.S. service members at risk.
Trump himself downplayed Russia’s involvement during a news conference Monday in Florida.
“… he wants to be helpful,” Trump said of Putin and his involvement with Iran.
Putin has been a firm supporter of Iran as the conflict has unfolded. Putin congratulated the country’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and said in a statement that he reaffirmed Russia’s “unwavering support for Tehran and our solidarity with Iranian friends” in a letter put out by the Kremlin.
Trump said that Putin was “very impressed” with Operation Epic Fury.
“We talked about that with President Putin. He was very impressed with what he saw because nobody’s ever seen anything quite like it,” Trump later added in the news conference.
Over the weekend, Trump said any intelligence sharing between Russia and Iran was inconsequential.
“If you take a look at what’s happened to Iran in the last week, if they’re getting information, it’s not helping them much,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One as he flew to Miami.
Exterior view of the U.S. Capitol on October 23, 2025 in Washington, DC. Eric Lee/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — House Speaker Mike Johnson denied he has “lost control of the House” after a group of moderate Republicans revolted and joined Democrats’ effort to force a vote on a three-year extension of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies.
“We have the smallest majority in U.S. history, OK? These are not normal times. There are [processes] and procedures in the House that are less frequently used when there are larger majorities,” Johnson said. “When you have a razor-thin margin, as we do, then all the procedures in the book people think are on the table, and that’s the difference.”
Johnson’s assertion comes after four Republicans broke ranks and signed onto House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ discharge petition, giving it the 218 signatures needed to force a vote though the vote is not likely to occur until January 2026 at the earliest.
The decision by moderate Republican Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, Mike Lawler, Rob Bresnahan and Ryan Mackenzie to join Democrats came after the Republican-controlled House Rules Committee on Tuesday night blocked amendments to extend the ACA subsidies from advancing.
Johnson has also resisted from allowing an up or down amendment vote on extending the expiring subsidies, which were Democrats’ focal point of the record 43-day government shutdown this fall.
Asked if he will allow a vote on the ACA extension in January, Johnson said, “Everybody stay tuned. We are having conversations.”
The speaker, who was spotted huddling with moderates on the floor during votes on Wednesday morning, said, “We just had some intense fellowship … We’re working through very complex issues, as we do here all the time, and it’s good. Everybody’s working towards ideas. We’re keeping the productive conversation going. That’s what happens.”
Moderate Republicans who signed onto the petition took aim at House leadership.
Lawler, of New York, said he doesn’t endorse the Democrats’ bill as written, but “when leadership blocks action entirely, Congress has a responsibility to act. My priority is ensuring Hudson Valley families aren’t caught in the gridlock,” Lawler wrote on X.
Pennsylvania’s Fitzpatrick again urged for an up or down vote on extending the ACA subsidies — calling on leadership to “let the House work its will.”
ABC News Capitol Hill Correspondent Jay O’Brien pressed Fitzpatrick on if signing the Democrats’ discharge petition will force GOP leadership to take a different approach.
“I sure hope so,” he said. “But you have to let the people’s voice be heard on the House floor. You cannot not put bills on the floor because you’re afraid they’re going to pass. That’s not how this place should operate.”
Bresnahan, who also represents Pennsylvania, said leadership on both sides of the aisle failed to reach a bipartisan compromise on the ACA subsidies.
“Doing nothing was not an option, and although this is not a bill I ever intended to support, it is the only option remaining,” he said in a statement.
What happens next?
The Republican-controlled House will hold vote on a clean three-year extension of the ACA subsidies; however, the vote is not expected to occur until January 2026 at the earliest given the rules for when a discharge petition can hit the floor.
The big question now is how the Senate will respond. The Senate already rejected a clean three-year extension of the subsidies in a pair of dueling health care votes last week, though several Republican senators crossed the aisle to join all Democrats in supporting it.
On Wednesday night, the House will hold a vote at approximately 5:30 p.m. on a narrow Republican health care package that does not address the expiring ACA tax credits.
Johnson needs a simple majority for the bill to pass and can only afford to lose three Republican votes. Democratic leaders are whipping their members against the bill. The vote will be tight for Johnson, who continues to navigate a slim majority.
The House GOP proposal would expand the availability of association health plans and what are known as “CHOICE arrangements;” impose new transparency requirements on pharmacy benefit managers to lower drug costs; and appropriate money for cost-sharing reductions to reduce premiums in the individual market.
Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., appears on ABC News’ “This Week” on Jan. 11, 2026. (ABC News)
(NEW YORK) — Minnesota Democratic Sen. Tina Smith said Sunday that the Trump administration was “attempting to cover up what happened” in the fatal shooting of Renee Good, a U.S. citizen and mother of three, by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent in Minneapolis on Wednesday.
ABC News obtained cell phone video of the incident that was taken by the ICE agent who fired the shots.
“I think what we are seeing here is the federal government — [Department of Homeland Security Secretary] Kristi Noem, Vice President [JD] Vance, [President] Donald Trump — attempting to cover up what happened here in the Twin Cities, and I don’t think that people here and around the country are believing it,” Smith told ABC News’ “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz.
Trump administration officials have asserted that Good was attempting to run over the ICE officer with her car, prompting the officer to shoot her in what they say was self-defense. Noem said Good’s actions were an act of “domestic terrorism.”
Local officials and many Democratic lawmakers have disputed DHS’s assessment of the incident.
“You are saying the administration is trying to cover up this shooting. That’s a pretty serious charge. What do you mean exactly,” Raddatz asked.
“What I mean by that is that you can see everything that they are doing is trying to shape the narrative, to say what happened, without any investigation,” Smith said.
Smith went on to criticize the administration for its response to the shooting.
“What I think is essential to keep in mind here is that if we’re going to trust the federal government, how can we trust the federal government to do an objective, unbiassed investigation, without prejudice, when at the beginning of that investigation they have already announced exactly what they saw — what they think happened.”
Smith said she has “seen nothing in any of the eyewitness videos, nor in any of the eyewitness reports from this tragic day, that would suggest that [Good] was in any way a threat to these officers.”
“Legally, do you think the ICE officer — certainly said he feared bodily harm. Is that possible in your eyes?” Raddatz pressed.
“It’s hard for me, looking at the evidence that I have seen, to imaging how he could feel bodily harm,” Smith said.
The FBI is investigating the shooting, but Minnesota officials said that the federal government has cut them out, blocking state agencies from accessing case material.
“And then they bar, from participating in the investigation, the unbiased state investigators who frequently collaborate with federal investigators on — when there are things that need to be looked into. So, I mean, I think they have just completely destroyed any credibility as they have so quickly rushed to judgement.”
The fatal shooting of Good sparked country-wide protests against ICE presence in American cities. In Minneapolis, local officials maintain that the protests have been mostly peaceful.
Here are more highlights from Smith’s interview:
On the actions of the ICE officer around the shooting, as captured by videos Smith: I understand how law enforcement, professional law enforcement, is trained. They are trained to deescalate situations, not make some worse, not make conflict worse. They are certainly trained to step out of the way of a moving vehicle, not place themselves in the middle of a moving vehicle. And no professional law enforcement would like, exchange words or banter with somebody who is engaged in their legal right to protest and then lose control, which is, you know, which looks to me like what happened here.
Message to people protesting shooting, ICE’s presence in communities Smith: Of course it is essential that we have peaceful protests. And what I have been saying to people, in all the opportunities I have when I talk to people on the street is that, that the Trump administration wants to foment chaos and division and fear and even violence. And it is essential that we do not fall into that trap, that our, our strength is in our unity, our strength is in our peaceful demonstrations. And, you know, we will not give in. We will not sort of cave in to the fear and the chaos that they are trying to create, they are creating, but we will meet that with unity and with peace.
