Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem claims that “If you are here illegally, self-deportation is the best, safest and most cost-effective way to leave the U.S. to avoid arrest.”

The main benefit of voluntary or self-deportation is that it helps deportable immigrants avoid becoming inadmissible as aliens who have been arrested, put in removal proceedings and deported pursuant to a deportation order. But permitting self-deportation doesn’t just benefit immigrants — it also provides the government with a cost-effective way to remove deportable immigrants without a hearing.

It is not surprising, therefore, that the administration is using the CBP Home program to encourage illegal immigrants to self-deport. But there is an additional step the administration should take to maximize the benefit: Self-deportation through CBP Home should be limited to immigrants who are in the immigration court’s backlog, rather than offering it to deportable immigrants generally.

The current backlog is so large, at more than 3.6 million cases, that it is severely limiting the administration’s ability to put deportable immigrants through removal proceedings. With some exceptions, such proceedings are needed to get necessary deportation orders. A significant reduction in the backlog would facilitate fulfilling Trump’s campaign promise of mass deportations.

The administration

© The Hill