US authorities are stepping up efforts to reduce the number of illegal immigrants in the country by offering financial incentives to those who agree to voluntarily leave the country by the end of the year, Reuters reports.

Washington’s immigration policy continues to tighten amid claims of the need to reduce the burden on the budget and the security system.

One of the main tools has become the so-called “self-deport” program, the terms of which have been significantly revised.

The Trump administration has tripled its stipend offer to migrants who choose to voluntarily "self-deport" from the United States to $3,000, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said on Monday.

The stipend would be given to people in the US illegally who sign up to leave the country by the end of the year, DHS said. The offer would include a free flight back to their home countries, it said.

The department emphasized that this measure aims to reduce government spending.

DHS said in May that the average cost to arrest, detain and deport someone without legal status was around $17,000.

"Illegal aliens should take advantage of this gift and self-deport because if they don’t, we will find them, we will arrest them, and they will never return," DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement.

The Trump administration in March launched a rebranded app called CBP Home to make it easier for people to self-deport. The app, previously called CBP One, was used by the Biden administration to allow migrants to enter the US legally.