Florida to use taxpayer money to fund controversial self-deportation initiative: “A ‘license to abuse’”
Florida – Florida has started a controversial program that gives migrants money to leave the country voluntarily. This has drawn a huge criticism from both human rights groups and immigration specialists. The program, quietly rolled out in recent weeks, lets undocumented immigrants who are caught in the state take state-funded flights back to their home countries. This means they don’t have to stay in jail for an extended period or go through legal proceedings.
The initiative is a cooperative effort between Florida law enforcement and federal immigration agencies. It is part of Governor Ron DeSantis’s larger plan to make the state more like federal immigration enforcement. Kevin Guthrie, the executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, said that the offer is framed as a last chance for migrants to avoid harsher outcomes.
“They are in a CBP station, but we give them that one last chance — and you can quote me on this — to do the right thing, and that is self-deport. And if they do that, then we, the state of Florida, will help them get from Florida back to their home country by purchasing that low-cost, one-way flight,” Guthrie said.
People who support the proposal say it is a realistic and cost-effective way to deal with the growing number of immigration issues. It is like a federal program that uses a mobile app and cash rewards to get people to leave the country on their own. Florida’s approach, however, has stirred greater controversy due to its connection to local law enforcement and a detention facility known by some as “Alligator Alcatraz.”
Critics say the program places migrants in an impossible situation. Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, called it “inherently coercive” and said that anyone who don’t take the deal could end up in the state’s notoriously harsh facility. There, people who are being held are said to have been treated inhumanely and not been able to get legal help.
“This program raises MAJOR due process concerns,” Reichlin-Melnick wrote on X. “People are being forced to make a decision to leave behind their families, jobs, houses, and lives in the United States in a matter of hours — at the threat of being detained in conditions all know are bad.”
Civil liberties groups, including the ACLU, argue that Florida’s deeper involvement in federal immigration enforcement has created a climate of fear, particularly in Latino communities. Reports suggest that many residents are afraid to drive, fly flags, or even play Spanish-language music in public for fear of being profiled or stopped. The ACLU called the program a “license to abuse.”
The state’s strong involvement in the 287(g) program, which gives local police the power to act as federal immigration officers, makes these concerns even worse. According to The Independent, a research from 2022 indicated that more than half of the sheriffs who took part in that program had a history of making anti-immigrant statements, and most of them were linked to racial profiling and abuses of civil rights.
For some who don’t support the self-deportation proposal, their concerns go beyond just the practicalities or the money it would save. They think it’s a strategy that puts fear ahead of fairness and coercion over compassion. And since taxpayers are paying for the effort, critics question if Florida is working on solutions or making things worse.
