The term was used as early as 1984 in a
People article about the European film director
Roman Polanski, which referred to his "self-deporting" to escape prosecution for sexual abuse. The term gained its current association with illegal immigration in the 1990s, especially in
California. In 1994,
William Safire pejoratively used the term to describe
California governor Pete Wilson's immigration strategy, exemplified by
Proposition 187, which prevented illegal aliens from using a variety of state social services. Safire summarized the philosophy of the approach as holding that "the most cost-effective way to change behavior is to make life unbearable under present behavior." The same year,
Lalo Alcaraz and Esteban Zul launched a
satirical campaign involving a character named "Daniel D. Portado" (a pun on
deportado,
Spanish for
deported), who facetiously promoted self-deportation. As early as 2005, the
far-right Center for Immigration Studies began explicitly promoting self-deportation as an immigration enforcement strategy, proposing that aggressive prosecution of border-crossing statutes and "virtual choke points" blocking non-citizen access to basic services could be used to "promote self-deportation." Ira Mehlman of the
Federation for American Immigration Reform described the policy as a practical alternative to forcible
mass deportation, defined by "removing incentives" like access to jobs and social services.
Republican presidential candidate
Mitt Romney's argument for self-deportation during the campaign has been credited with introducing the term into mainstream political discourse. Although the policy was seen as novel or controversial by some, conservative immigration groups affirmed their support for the approach, which underpins restrictive anti-immigrant laws such as
Arizona SB 1070 and
Alabama HB 56. The Trump administration, particularly in its second term, has strongly encouraged the practice of self-deportation, offering $1,000, travel expenses and forgiveness of previous fines as an incentive to self-deport. Some migrants who have attempted to claim this "exit bonus" have reported difficulties including delayed, misdirected and missing payments and unresponsive contact information when attempting to resolve payment problems.
Mother Jones magazine reported that Salus Worldwide Solutions, the company awarded a US$917 million contract to manage the program, had no previous federal contract experience and was connected to a former US State Department official and one of his former colleagues, then the US Department of Homeland Security official in charge of awarding the contract. Critics have argued that the administration has used both fines and lawsuits as a "scare tactic" to encourage self-deportation. ==See also==