U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is beginning to target unaccompanied immigrant children, pressuring them to accept cash payment in exchange for agreeing to be deported, according to a government memo to immigrant aid groups obtained by The Intercept.

The operation — which immigration rights advocates said was called “Freaky Friday,” though ICE denied the name — is a part of President Donald Trump’s ongoing mass deportation campaign. With deportation continuing apace amid the federal government shutdown, advocates speculated that the latest scheme to pay off immigrant children was deliberately timed by ICE and its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, to minimize public attention.

The memo said immigrant children 14 years or older would receive $2,500 in exchange for agreeing to be deported.

“The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will provide a one-time resettlement support stipend of $2,500 U.S. Dollars to unaccompanied alien children, 14 years of age and older, who have elected to voluntarily depart the United States as of the date of this notice and moving forward,” said the memo, which was issued by the Department of Health and Human Services, the agency that holds children in immigration custody.

Alarmed by word of the new operation, immigrant rights advocates began to widely circulate information about the plan in private email chains earlier this week.

“The idea that immigration enforcement agents can coerce children into waiving their rights and........

© The Intercept