SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras (AP) 鈥 The United States on Monday sent 68 immigrants from Honduras and Colombia back to their countries, 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 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 . 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 .
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.
鈥淚 wanted to see my family and my mom,鈥 said Posadas, who added that the process was easy.
鈥淵ou just apply (through the ) and in three days you鈥檝e got it,鈥 he said. The flight left Houston early Monday. 鈥淚t鈥檚 good because you save the cost of the flight if you have the intention of leaving.鈥
Posadas said he hadn鈥檛 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鈥檚 offer of allowing those who self-deport to apply to enter the United States legally.
In a statement about the flight Monday, said, 鈥淚f 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鈥檛, you will be subjected to fines, arrest, deportation and will never be allowed to return.鈥
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 Garc铆a 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, Garc铆a said.
Garc铆a, 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鈥檚 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鈥檛 expect the number to accelerate much, despite the Trump administration鈥檚 intentions.
Some would continue applying to , because they feel like their time in the U.S. is up or because it鈥檚 getting harder to work, he said.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think it will be thousands of people who apply for the program,鈥 Paz said. 鈥淥ur responsibility is that they come in an orderly fashion and we support them.鈥
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Gonz谩lez reported from Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
