Homeland Security Ad Campaign Warns Illegal Immigrants to Self-Deport

Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) headquarters in Washington on Jan. 28, 2025. Manuel Balce Ceneta/AFP via Getty Images

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has announced a nationwide and international ad campaign urging illegal immigrants to leave the United States immediately or face deportation “with the inability to return to the United States.”

“The international ads warn criminal illegal aliens not to come to America and break its laws or they will be hunted down and deported,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a Feb. 17 statement.

The multimillion-dollar ad campaign will run in multiple countries and regions in several dialects via broadcast, digital, and radio channels. The “hyper-targeted” ads, published via text messages, social media, and digital, are designed to reach illegal immigrants living in the United States as well as an international audience.

“President Trump has a clear message: if you are here illegally, we will find you and deport you. You will never return. But if you leave now, you may have an opportunity to return and enjoy our freedom and live the American Dream,” Noem said, adding that America’s borders are closed to lawbreakers under the new administration.

“If you are a criminal alien considering entering America illegally: Don’t even think about it. If you come here and break our laws, we will hunt you down. Criminals are not welcome in the United States.”

The domestic and international versions of the ads have slightly varying content but convey the same core message.

In the ads, Noem blamed weak political leadership for keeping America’s border “wide open” and flooding local communities with violent criminals, drugs, and human trafficking.

“Those days are over,” she said.

Earlier this month, the Trump administration’s border czar, Tom Homan, said that the government intended to give illegal immigrants the right to self-deport.

If such aliens are formally deported by authorities, they would be barred from coming back into the United States for a period of five to 20 years, he said at the time, adding that such a restriction won’t be applied to illegal immigrants who self-deport.

The recent Homeland Security statement did not list the regulatory details.

In a Feb. 17 post on social media platform X, Homan said that the U.S. Border Patrol encountered a total of 229 illegal immigrants along the entire southwest border over the previous 24 hours, which he said was “down from a high of over 11,000 a day under Biden.”

“I started as a Border Patrol Agent in 1984 and I don’t remember the numbers ever being that low,” he said.

Since coming to power, both President Donald Trump and Noem have taken several steps to resolve the illegal immigrant crisis facing the United States.

On Jan. 20, Trump signed an executive order aimed at “securing our border.” According to the order, the United States seeks to deter and prevent the entry of illegal aliens, pursue criminal charges “against illegal aliens who violate the immigration laws,” and remove “promptly all aliens who enter or remain in violation of federal law.”

Trump also signed an executive order limiting birthright citizenship. The order clarifies that the federal government does not automatically recognize birthright citizenship for children born to illegal immigrants in America.

The first flight carrying criminal illegal immigrants to Guantanamo Bay prepares to depart, in El Paso, Texas, on Feb. 4, 2025. Department of Homeland Security

The president also declared a national emergency allowing National Guard and military troops to construct barriers and complete the wall along America’s border with Mexico.

Late last month, Noem, confirmed by the Senate on Jan. 25 with bipartisan support, cracked down on nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) allegedly facilitating illegal immigration into the United States. The federal government has currently ceased all grant funding to such NGOs, she said.

Last week, Noem announced that she clawed back all funds disbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) used to house illegal immigrants at luxury hotels in New York City.

“FEMA was funding the Roosevelt Hotel that serves as a Tren de Aragua base of operations and was used to house Laken Riley’s killer,” she said in a post on social media platform X.

Riley was a 22-year-old nursing student killed in February 2024 in Georgia by a Venezuelan illegal immigrant who entered the United States in 2022.

In January, Trump issued an executive order directing federal agencies to designate certain cartels and gangs, including the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, as foreign terrorist organizations.