Taking a swipe at illegal immigration in the United States, American conservative influencer Nick Sortor on Saturday shared an AI-generated video on X, urging illegal immigrants to “self-deport” on Valentine’s Day.
“LMAO! DHS just put out a Happy Valentine’s Day message for illegals. “Don’t wait, self deport today and spend this Valentine’s Day with the one you love. We will even give you $2,600 to take them out.”, Nick Sortor said in a post on X.
“Don’t wait, self deport today and spend this Valentines Day with the one you love. We will even give you $2,600 to take them out,” said CBP in a post on
At the time of reporting, the post had received 86 comments, 320 reposts, 1,900 likes, and 23 bookmarks.
Netizens react
One user commented, “Governments trying to charm deportees with small payouts and cheesy lines—because nothing says romance like forced self-exile. This was bound to happen.”
Another wrote, “If this is real, politics has officially become a parody. Valentine’s messages shouldn’t read like policy ads.”
A third user suggested, “Their countries of origin should be billed for this.”
In early January, anti‑Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) demonstrators in Minneapolis surrounded the vehicle of conservative content creator Nick Sortor, shouting at him and using profanity. Sortor later posted a video on
This comes at a time when the funding for the US Department of Homeland Security lapsed on Saturday after Democrats refused to approve additional money unless new limits are placed on federal immigration operations in response to the recent fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renée Good in Minneapolis, AP reported.
Negotiations between the White House and Democratic leaders continued through the week, but they failed to reach an agreement in time, causing the department’s funding to expire.
Unlike last fall’s record 43-day shutdown, this closure will be more limited in scope.
Only agencies within the Department of Homeland Security—such as US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, US Customs and Border Protection, and the Transportation Security Administration—are affected. If the shutdown continues, some federal employees may start experiencing delayed paychecks, AP reported.
US spent $40 million on roughly 300 deportations to third nations
According to a report compiled by the Democratic staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, over the past year, the Trump administration spent at least $40 million to deport around 300 migrants to countries other than their own, as immigration officials stepped up efforts to quickly remove immigrants from the US in line with Trump’s objectives, AP reported.
Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, led by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, condemned the practice of deporting migrants to third countries, describing it in their report as “costly, wasteful, and poorly monitored.” They urged “serious scrutiny of a policy that now operates largely in the dark.”
The report, which is the first congressional review of the agreements, found lump sum payments ranging between $4.7 million and $7.5 million to five countries — Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda, El Salvador, Eswatini and Palau — to deport migrants to those nations, the report stated.
Don’t wait, self deport today and spend this Valentines Day with the one you love. We will even give you $2,600 to take them out.
Governments trying to charm deportees with small payouts and cheesy lines—because nothing says romance like forced self-exile.
El Salvador has received about 250 Venezuelan nationals in March last year, while the other nations received far fewer deportees, ranging from 29 sent to Equatorial Guinea to none sent to Palau so far, according to the report.
(With inputs from agencies)
