US sends 68 migrants back to Honduras and Colombia in first voluntary
deportation
[May 20, 2025]
By CLAUDIO ESCALÓN and MARLON GONZÁLEZ
SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras (AP) — The United States sent 68 immigrants
from Honduras and Colombia back to their countries Monday on the first
government-funded flight of what the Trump administration is calling
voluntary deportations.
In the northern Honduran city of San Pedro Sula, 38 Hondurans, including
19 children, disembarked from the charter flight carrying $1,000 debit
cards from the U.S. government and the offer to one day be allowed to
apply for legal entry into the U.S.
U.S. President Donald Trump has promised to increase deportations
substantially. Experts believe the self-deportation offer will only
appeal to a small portion of migrants already considering return, but
unlikely to spur high demand. The offer has been paired with
highly-publicized migrant detentions in the U.S. and flying a couple
hundred Venezuelan migrants to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador.
Kevin Antonio Posadas, from Tegucigalpa, had lived in Houston for three
years, but had already been considering a return to Honduras when the
Trump administration announced its offer.
“I wanted to see my family and my mom,” said Posadas, who added that the
process was easy.
“You just apply (through the CBP Home app ) and in three days you’ve got
it,” he said. The flight left Houston early Monday. “It’s good because
you save the cost of the flight if you have the intention of leaving.”
Posadas said he hadn’t feared deportation and liked living in the U.S.,
but had been thinking for some time about going home. He said eventually
he would consider taking up the U.S. government’s offer of allowing
those who self-deport to apply to enter the United States legally.
In a statement about the flight Monday, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary
Kristi Noem said, “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.”
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A Honduran migrant who returned voluntarily from the United States
walks after arriving at Ramon Villeda Morales Airport in San Pedro
Sula, Honduras, Monday, May 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Delmer Martinez)
Twenty-six more migrants aboard the flight were headed home to
Colombia, according to a U.S. Department of Homeland Security
statement.
Honduras Deputy Foreign Minister Antonio García said the Honduran
government would also support the returning migrants with $100 cash
and another $200 credit at a government-run store that sells basic
necessities.
Among the migrants arriving voluntarily Monday were four children
who were born in the United States, García said.
García, who met the arriving migrants at the airport, said they told
him that being in the U.S. without documents required for legal
immigration or residence had been increasingly difficult, that
things were growing more hostile and they feared going to work.
Still, the number of Hondurans deported from the U.S. so far this
year is below last year’s pace, said Honduras immigration director
Wilson Paz.
While about 13,500 Hondurans have been deported from the U.S. this
year, the figure stood at more than 15,000 by this time in 2024, Paz
said.
He didn’t expect the number to accelerate much, despite the Trump
administration’s intentions.
Some would continue applying to self-deport, because they feel like
their time in the U.S. is up or because it’s getting harder to work,
he said.
“I don’t think it will be thousands of people who apply for the
program,” Paz said. “Our responsibility is that they come in an
orderly fashion and we support them.”
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González reported from Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
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