SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras: 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 carrying $1,000 debit cards from the US government and the offer to one day be allowed to apply for legal entry into the US.
US President Donald Trump has promised to increase deportations substantially. 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 US and flying a couple hundred Venezuelan migrants to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador.
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.
“I wanted to see my family and my mom,” said Posadas, who added that the process was easy.
“You just apply (through the CBP Home app) and in three days you’ve got it,” he said. The flight left Houston early Monday. “It’s good because you save the cost of the flight if you have the intention of leaving.”
Posadas said he hadn’t feared deportation and liked living in the US, but had been thinking for some time about going home. He said eventually he would consider taking up the US government’s offer of allowing those who self-deport to apply to enter the United States legally.
In a statement about the flight Monday, US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said, “If 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’t, you will be subjected to fines, arrest, deportation and will never be allowed to return.”
Twenty-six more migrants aboard the flight were headed home to Colombia, according to a US Department of Homeland Security statement.
Honduras Deputy Foreign Minister Antonio García 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, García said.
García, who met the arriving migrants at the airport, said they told him that being in the US 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 US so far this year is below last year’s pace, said Honduras immigration director Wilson Paz.
While about 13,500 Hondurans have been deported from the US this year, the figure stood at more than 15,000 by this time in 2024, Paz said.
He didn’t expect the number to accelerate much, despite the Trump administration’s intentions.
Some would continue applying to self-deport, because they feel like their time in the US is up or because it’s getting harder to work, he said.
“I don’t think it will be thousands of people who apply for the program,” Paz said. “Our responsibility is that they come in an orderly fashion and we support them.”
US sends 68 migrants back to Honduras and Colombia in first voluntary deportation
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US sends 68 migrants back to Honduras and Colombia in first voluntary deportation
- Experts believe the self-deportation offer will only appeal to a small portion of migrants already considering return, but unlikely to spur high demand
US senators visit key Ukrainian port city as they push for fresh sanctions on Russia
- The visit and the push for Congress to take up sanctions on Russia come at a crucial moment in the conflict
WASHINGTON: A delegation of US senators was returning Wednesday from a trip to Ukraine, hoping to spur action in Congress for a series of sanctions meant to economically cripple Moscow and pressure President Vladimir Putin to make key concessions in peace talks.
It was the first time US senators have visited Odesa, Ukraine’s third-most populous city and an economically crucial Black Sea port that has been particularly targeted by Russia, since the war began nearly four years ago. Democratic Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, Chris Coons, Richard Blumenthal and Sheldon Whitehouse made the trip. Republican Sen. Thom Tillis had planned to join but was unable to for personal reasons.
“One of the things we heard wherever we stopped today was that the people of Ukraine want a peace deal, but they want a peace deal that preserves their sovereignty, that recognizes the importance of the integrity of Ukraine,” Shaheen said on a phone call with reporters.
The visit and the push for Congress to take up sanctions on Russia come at a crucial moment in the conflict. Delegations for the two sides were also meeting in Switzerland for two days of US-brokered talks, but neither side appeared ready to budge on key issues like territory and future security guarantees. The sanctions, senators hoped, could prod Putin toward settling for peace, as the US has set a June deadline for settlement.
“Literally nobody believes that Russia is acting in good faith in the negotiations with our government and with the Ukrainians,” Whitehouse said. “And so pressure becomes the key.”
Still, legislation to impose tough sanctions on Russia has been on hold in Congress for months.
Senators have put forward a range of sanction measures, including one sweeping bill that would allows the Trump administration to impose tariffs and secondary sanctions on countries that purchase Russia’s oil, gas, uranium and other exports, which are crucial to financing Russia’s military. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has also advanced a series of more-targeted bills that would sanction China’s efforts to support Russia’s military, commandeer frozen Russian assets and go after what’s known as Moscow’s “shadow fleet” of oil tankers being used to circumvent sanctions already in place.
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who has co-sponsored the Senate’s sweeping sanctions and tariff legislation, also released a statement during the Munich Security Conference this weekend saying that Senate Majority Leader John Thune had committed to bringing up the sanctions bill once it clearly has the 60 votes needed to move through the Senate.
“This legislation will be a game changer,” Graham said. “President Trump has embraced it. It is time to vote.”
Blumenthal, who co-sponsored that bill alongside Graham, also said there is bipartisan support for the legislation, which he called a “very tough sledgehammer of sanctions and tariffs,” but he also noted that “we need to work out some of the remaining details.” Democrats, and a handful of Republicans, have been opposed to President Donald Trump’s campaign to impose tariffs around the world in an effort to strike trade deals and spur more manufacturing in the US
In the House, Democrats are opposed to the tariff provisions of that bill. Instead, a bipartisan group of lawmakers, led by Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, has proposed separate legislation that makes it more difficult for Trump to waive sanctions, but does away with the tariff provisions.
A separate bill, led by the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Gregory Meeks, would bolster US military support for Ukraine by $8 billion. Democrats currently need one more Republican to support an effort to force a vote on that bill.
Once they return to the US, the senators said they would detail how US businesses based in Ukraine have been attacked by Russia. The Democrats are also hoping to build pressure on Trump to send more US weapons to Ukraine. “Putin understands weapons, not words,” Blumenthal said.
Still, the lawmakers will soon return to a Washington where the Trump administration is ambivalent about its long-term commitments to securing peace in Ukraine, as well as Europe. For now, at least, they were buoyed by the conversations from their European counterparts and Republican colleagues.
“We and the Republican senators who were with us in Munich spoke with one voice about our determination to continue to support Ukraine,” Coons said.
