President Trump has recorded a video for social media in which he urges unauthorized immigrants to “self-deport” — and use a newly launched app to report that they’re leaving the U.S., Axios has learned.
Why it matters: The 90-second video — set to appear on Instagram, X, YouTube and Rumble — is part of a broader advertising campaign aimed at encouraging such immigrants to leave before U.S. officials arrest them.
- The effort comes as Trump’s push to deport “millions and millions” of unauthorized immigrants is facing a lack of funds, detention space, officers and infrastructure.
Zoom in: Pinched for such resources, Trump’s team has used tough talk to try to get such immigrants to leave the U.S. — or never come here.
- In his video ad Trump does the same, warning immigrants that if they have any hopes of eventually becoming U.S. citizens, they should register with the Customs and Border Protection app and leave now.
- “My administration is launching the CBP Home app to give people in our country illegally an easy way to leave now and self-deport voluntarily,” Trump says, speaking directly to camera.
- “If they do, they could potentially have the opportunity to return legally at some point in the future.”
- But “if they do not avail themselves of this opportunity, then they will be found, they will be deported and they will never be admitted again to the United States — ever, ever again, you’re never coming in.”
Reality check: It’s unclear whether many undocumented immigrants will have enough faith in the administration’s program to voluntarily risk deportation by providing information that, theoretically, could be used against them if they returned to the U.S. seeking legal entry.
Zoom out: But Trump administration officials are warning that the consequences of trying to stay in the U.S. — and risk being arrested — could be worse.
- Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem recently appeared in a commercial warning immigrants to “leave now” — a spot that was ordered up by Trump, according to two people familiar with the move.
- Noem’s department also is running a commercial internationally that warns foreigners not to try entering the U.S. illegally.
- The department has said it’s spending about $200 million on the advertising effort.
The Department of Homeland Security’s app, which was rolled out earlier this month, has been promoted by Noem and Elon Musk, a top Trump adviser and the face of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency.
- The Trump administration has shut down the CBP One app, a Biden White House-established platform that helped to facilitate legal border crossings.
- The app “saves the U.S. taxpayer dollars and valuable CBP and [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] resources, and all of those resources are necessary to focus on dangerous criminal aliens, and that’s what we’re focused on,” Trump says in the video.