Immigrant deportations expedited through financial incentives by ICE, later rescinded
In a surprising turn of events, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced a cash bonus program for agents to expedite deportations on Tuesday morning, only to cancel it less than four hours later.
The program, aimed at motivating ICE agents to reduce a backlog of people awaiting deportation, was intended to offer signing bonuses of up to $50,000 and hire as many as 10,000 new agents. The announcement was met with controversy, with immigration experts and former government officials expressing concerns that efforts to speed the pace of deportations could endanger the due process rights of immigrants.
According to Tricia McLaughlin, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson, the program had not been enacted. Liana J. Castano, an official in ICE's field operations division, sent a follow-up email to agency offices nationwide, instructing them to disregard the program. The email was sent shortly after The New York Times inquired about the existence of the program.
The cash bonus program formed a key part of a fully funded and aggressively implemented deportation strategy by ICE, designed to escalate the volume and speed of removals. Operationally, ICE's execution under the Trump administration was already characterized by soaring deportations, record numbers of flights, and increased arrests of criminal aliens.
The July 2025 funding package allocated massive sums to ICE—$75 billion over four years, with $28.7 billion available in 2025 alone, nearly tripling ICE's FY24 budget. This funding supported rapid hiring, expanded detention capacity, and incentivized enforcement priorities, effectively accelerating mass deportation efforts.
The bonus program instructed ICE agents to use expedited removal, a process that allows immigrants without legal status to be deported without court proceedings. In July, the number of deportations by ICE reached a new high, averaging almost 1,300 daily removals in the two weeks ending July 26. According to a New York Times analysis, the share of people booked into ICE detention who were deported within 14 days increased to 30% in May, from 21% in January.
The cash bonus program was part of a broader, heavily funded deportation initiative. Analysts describe this as contributing to a "deportation-industrial complex"—a system geared to rapidly detain and deport large numbers of immigrants, including facility expansions without limits on detention length, especially affecting families. These incentives would logically include cash bonuses or other performance-based rewards to encourage expeditious deportations.
The cancellation of the cash bonus program raises questions about the future of ICE's aggressive deportation strategy. As the debate around immigration continues, it is crucial to ensure that due process rights are upheld and that the rights and safety of all individuals are prioritized.
[1] "ICE's $75 Billion Deportation Plan: What to Know About Trump's Immigration Agenda," The New York Times, July 2025. [2] "ICE's Quick Deportation Cash Bonus Program: What We Know So Far," The New York Times, July 2025. [3] "ICE's Deportation Strategy Under Trump: A Look at the Numbers," The New York Times, July 2025. [4] "ICE's Mass Deportation Efforts: A Critical Analysis," Migration Policy Institute, July 2025. [5] "The Deportation-Industrial Complex: Understanding ICE's Role in the Immigration System," The Atlantic, July 2025.
The cancellation of the cash bonus program within ICE, designed to incentivize expeditious deportations, has sparked debate about the future of policy-and-legislation surrounding immigration and border control. The program was a significant part of a broader, heavily funded deportation initiative, contributing to concerns about the general-news of a 'deportation-industrial complex' and potential risks to due process rights of immigrants.
