Still no official news stories on the ICE sweep in Massachusetts…seems strange.
According to an AP article quoted on latimesblog.com regarding ICE’s self-deportation program, known as Scheduled Departure: “… by Tuesday afternoon, only one person — in Phoenix — took the offer, according to an ICE official who spoke on condition of anonymity because not all the numbers are in. Officials in the other cities said they had no takers by midafternoon.”
Although free airfare may be an attractive offer for those who want to go home but cannot afford to, I doubt the lack of funds to buy one-way airline tickets is the reason the undocumented remain in the US even after being ordered removed. There are no restrictions on leaving the US, so other than a possible free ticket home for non-Mexicans who ICE determines cannot pay the fare, it is hard to comprehend what incentive anyone would have to accept this offer.
If and when the statistics come out on who participated in this “program”, I will post them here.
