The United States isn’t the only nation to offer incentives to get illegal migrants to return home.
In recent years, Denmark and Sweden, among other European nations, have taken a dramatically different turn regarding unfettered immigration.
According to a January 2024 blog post “Why migration is a model for sustainable development for all,” climate change, conflict, political instability and economic disparities were reasons to support “well-managed migration.”
The WEF also justifies it for economic reasons, citing a 2022 report Migration Matters: A Human Cause with a $20 Trillion Business Case, that claimed 30 million vacant jobs across the world’s 30 largest economies, translating to a staggering $1.3 trillion annual loss for businesses.
That may answer the question of why the Biden administration consented to global leaders and business executives and opened the United States’ borders.
As part of the Trump administration’s deportation push, the United States in May 2025 began offering a $1,000 incentive and a free flight home to illegal immigrants willing to self-deport.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security raised the incentive to $3,000 over the holidays, which saw an uptick in numbers. Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said 100,000 illegal immigrants have taken the self-deportation bonus so far.
DHS recently shared on social media “Parents can take control of their departure and receive a free flight and $2,600 with the CBP Home app.”
Paying illegals to self-deport may seem strange to Americans, but McLaughlin explained that it’s “a 70% savings, at least,” compared to the average $17,000 cost to arrest, detain and deport illegals forcibly.
Surprisingly, Denmark also offers financial incentives, sometimes significant sums like up to €27,000 for Syrians, to asylum seekers and refugees to voluntarily return to their home countries.
The payments to Syrians go back as early as 2019 according to a report by The Local Denmark and were highlighted in an article by NPR in April 2021.
Syria has experienced active armed conflict since 2011, with Islamic extremists and ISIS terrorists operating within its borders. The mostly Muslim country has had a hostile relationship with the United States due to Syria’s support for terrorist groups.
President Donald Trump put a travel ban on refugees from Syria during his first term. In September 2025, the administration announced the end of temporary protected status for thousands of Syrian migrants, increasing risks of deportation.
Denmark’s Integration Minister Mattias Tesfaye announced in June 2020 that the government would be reevaluating residence permits, emphasizing that Syrian refugees who choose to go back get a “bag of money” from Denmark in order to rebuild their lives in Syria, NPR reported.
The Danish government’s financial offer for voluntary return is significantly higher than that in many other European countries, including Germany. Denmark offers funds for travel costs, four years of medical coverage, plus a flat sum of about $23,000 per adult.
In June 2025, the BBC reported that Denmark is now “a pioneer in restrictive migration policies” in Europe — both when it comes to asylum-seekers and economic migrants looking to work in Denmark.
The policy is part of a broader, stricter immigration approach that encourages return rather than integration and promotes “self-deportation.” Other policies affect those with asylum status by making it temporary and reviewable.
Is this a sign that the mass immigration experiment isn’t working out?
More European Union countries are also taking steps to deport migrants who fled there due to war or economic reasons.
Sweden also made a 180-degree reversal on its open border policies in recent years. Sweden saw fatal shootings double between 2013 and 2023 and now has the second highest rate of gun crime deaths in Europe, according to a report by Across the Globe.
In response, the Scandinavian nation has done a dramatic U-turn on immigration, introducing border controls and one of the most restrictive asylum policies in Europe.
For the first time in 50 years, Sweden now has negative net migration and began offering migrants $34,000 to leave through voluntary repatriation grants for adults, children and cohabiting partners.
Prime Minister of Sweden, Ulf Kristersson, told Euronews in May 2025 that there is an “absolute need to get control on migration” and “we do have a problem with integration.”
“We are copying basically the Danish model and raising that sum pretty significantly to make it easier for those who realise that they would prefer to go back to their own country, they do not for different reasons feel that they find a well-functioning life in Sweden,” he said.
According to January 2026 report by Info Migrants, EU Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner told the German weekly newspaper Welt am Sonntag that based on rising deportation numbers, the EU for 2025 is “likely to reach the highest deportation rate since 2019.”
“We must combat illegal migration on all fronts,” Brunner said, explaining this includes increasing deportation rates of people who have lost the right to remain in the EU.
Brunner added that the EU also had to do more to move towards “swiftly rejecting people with little prospect of receiving asylum.”
British journalist and activist Tommy Robinson, described as “far-right” for his controversial views on Muslims, was jailed in England for his social media posts and documentaries.
Robinson has led efforts to expose the increase in crime and loss of culture in England due to mass immigration. Robinson organized a massive Unite The Kingdom rally in September 2025 to protest illegal migration and government policies.
This comes amid major changes to EU law, which are likely to result in more deportations and rejections outside the EU, Info Migrants reported.
The changes are designed to limit migration and speed up returns as part of the Common European Asylum System that will go into effect throughout the EU starting in June 2026.
They agreed to establish “return hubs” in third countries located outside the EU to intercept migrants before they reach the EU. The hubs will be used to process their cases or assist rejected asylum seekers in returning to their home countries.
Some European Union member states, including Denmark, said they plan to take matters into their own hands.
“Instead of waiting several years, (…) we are taking the lead and implementing legislation before the summer,” said Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, in her New Year’s Address.
Frederiksen added that Denmark will see “even more foreign criminals … deported from Denmark,” explaining that those who are sentenced to at least one year in prison — regardless of their ties to Denmark — should face deportation.
Across Europe, the political tide is turning when it comes to immigration policy, the BBC reported.
Before Germany’s general election in 2025, then center-left Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, pledged to tighten asylum regulations, including reducing family reunification. UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer came under fire when he spoke of the danger of his country becoming “an island of strangers.”
Previously labeled “as becoming far right” by European, now the Danish position “has become the new normal—it was the head of the curve,” said Alberto Horst Neidhardt, senior analyst at the European Policy Centre. “What’s considered ‘good’ migration policies these days has moved to the right, even for centre left governments, like the UK.”
