When Luis Andrés Monterroso López, 29, set foot on Guatemalan soil on December 19, 2025 — his first time again in three years — he was livid. Wearing a grey jumpsuit and darkish‑blue slippers, the usual uniform for migrants held in U.S. detention, he spoke to his mom on the cellphone whereas sitting exterior the Guatemalan Air Pressure base the place deportation flights land. “They don’t deal with animals like this. I got here again with my palms and toes shackled,” he instructed her, outraged.
Within the plastic bag labeled along with his title and identification quantity — the one he obtained on the Alvarado detention middle in Texas — he carried two paperwork: his voluntary‑departure order and a sheet explaining the way to declare a $1,000 fee. The sum was a sort of bonus that ICE officers promise to detainees with no prison file if they comply with voluntary departure.
“All of us signed simply to get out of jail, not for the cash — and so far as I do know, nobody ever manages to gather it. However I’ll attempt anyway,” Monterroso instructed this newspaper that day.
The instruction sheet stated the cash could be accessible 5 days later by logging into mail.cbp‑stipend.com with the username and password offered. A number of days after returning to Quesada, within the division of Jutiapa, Monterroso adopted the steps precisely and was redirected to Zoho, the platform the U.S. Department of Homeland Security supposedly makes use of to speak with migrants who signal voluntary departure.
The account existed. So did the portal’s welcome messages. However there was no signal of the cash. On January 24, Monterroso emailed the positioning’s assist service asking the way to declare the fee. No reply. He checked once more on February 19. Nonetheless nothing.
Then, on March 19 — whereas this story was being ready — he opened the account one final time. And there it was: an e-mail from CBP Residence with directions to gather the cash by means of Western Union. And it wasn’t $1,000 however $2,600, issued by Soterex Monetary Companies LLC, a Virginia‑primarily based cash‑switch firm. The message was dated February 25, 68 days after his deportation.
“It’s been an ordeal to get this cash. With this delay, I had already misplaced hope,” Monterroso stated.
And actually, many by no means obtain it.
“They tricked me”
Each week, about 1,180 persons are deported from america to Guatemala, most of them from Alexandria, Louisiana. Many arrive carrying the voluntary‑departure kind — and, typically solely verbally, the promise of a money fee.
“In jail, you don’t eat, you don’t sleep, you’ll be able to’t wash. It’s horrible. To get out of there you’d signal something, particularly figuring out nearly nobody wins their case,” says Eric, who was deported on March 21 after 18 years in america. “That’s why I agreed when the ICE officer pushed me to signal, providing me $3,000,” he provides. However on the Alabama detention middle, he by no means obtained any instruction sheet. “They tricked me. How am I supposed to gather that cash in the event that they didn’t give me a login or a password?”
Others had the identical expertise. “They solely requested for a cellphone quantity, however every week after being expelled we nonetheless haven’t obtained any message,” says Juan Gaspar from a village close to Quetzaltenango.
Between 2025 and early 2026, 44 individuals have died in ICE custody — the very best quantity in many years, in accordance with Detention Watch Community, a nationwide coalition that wishes to abolish the detention of migrants within the nation.
“Some detainees are compelled to signal voluntary launch agreements to cowl up instances of unlawful detention that might be challenged,” explains Carlos Valenzuela, an immigration lawyer in america. “The cash is introduced as an incentive, however in observe it’s a mechanism of psychological stress to get them to surrender defending their case.”
Valenzuela says he has seen just one shopper truly obtain the stipend. “Probably the most irritating factor is that after they signal the voluntary departure settlement, they’ll nonetheless be held for as much as three months earlier than being deported.”
Others report that ICE officers promise they are going to be capable of return legally to america. “That’s the worst sort of deception,” the lawyer provides. Migrants who’ve spent greater than a yr within the nation with out authorized standing face a re‑entry ban of as much as 10 years.
Deported or “self-deported”?
In March 2025, the Trump administration launched what it referred to as “voluntary self‑deportation” by means of the CBP Residence app, a program designed to encourage individuals to depart the nation on their very own. It permits non‑residents with out authorized standing to report back to ICE, obtain a ticket on a business flight, and entry a stipend that now reaches $2,600, up from the preliminary $1,000.
“We haven’t assisted anybody who has utilized to this program, and it’s unlikely that these of us who’ve lived within the U.S. for 10 or 20 years would method the federal government, a lot much less for such a small quantity,” says Esmeralda Flores of Otros Desires en Acción, which works with the returning migrant group. This Mexican group additionally questions using the time period “self-deportation.” “Deportation implies the presence of an immigration authority. Nobody can self-deport,” Flores argues, saying the label is supposed to shift blame onto migrants.
At La Aurora Airport in Guatemala Metropolis, about 20 flights from america land day-after-day. Some passengers return with a number of suitcases and a agency determination to not migrate once more, however it’s exhausting to search out anybody who says they got here again by means of CBP Residence. “Nobody sells themselves for $1,000,” says a taxi driver who works the airport.
Graciela, 19, confirms it: “My grandmother got here again after seven years as a result of she’s sick and uninterested in being within the U.S.. She paid for her personal ticket and didn’t need this cash from Trump. In addition to, everybody says they don’t give it out.”
In keeping with U.S. State Division information, practically two million individuals have left the nation by means of CBP Residence since January 2025. However there isn’t any public data on what number of truly obtain the stipend, nor whether or not the determine counts as “self‑deportation” instances which are, in actuality, deportations.
“I don’t have a single shopper who, whereas free, has used CBP Residence. And accumulating the cash is difficult,” Valenzuela provides.
In keeping with Flores, from Otros Desires en Acción, that is “a part of the technique of cruelty in opposition to migrants. By making the method tough, they know that most individuals get discouraged and don’t receives a commission,” she concludes.
Lower than a month’s wages
4 months after his deportation, Monterroso has opened a small mechanic’s store within the village of Amatón, in Guatemala’s Jutiapa division. He set it up along with his financial savings and the cash from promoting his van and belongings in america. He painted the façade yellow and hung a truck tire as an indication, painted with the phrases “24h Tire Restore.”
With the $2,600 stipend, he plans to purchase a washer and repair up the nook of the store the place he’s residing for now, till he can save sufficient to construct a house of his personal. “Within the U.S., I labored as a plumber and made $34 an hour. This $2,600 from ICE is lower than a month’s wages there,” he says.
The financial distinction weighs on his thoughts, although he doesn’t solely miss that life. “I’d stand up at 4 a.m. to work and return to a shared home at evening. And the following day, the identical factor. That’s the lifetime of a migrant: you’re employed, and that’s it,” he says.
Subsequent to the workshop’s entrance is the white plastic bag along with his title and the identification quantity that ICE gave him in December. At this time it serves as a wastebasket. “The creativity of an entrepreneur,” he says, smiling.
