Last week, the Trump administration's Department of Homeland Security announced what it billed as "a historic opportunity for illegal aliens to receive both financial and travel assistance to facilitate travel back to their home country." The DHS program is offering a $1,000 stipend and travel assistance to any undocumented immigrant who agrees to "self-deport" back to their country of origin.
On Friday, Republican Rep. Randy Weber of Texas appeared on the "Washington Watch" program, where he was asked about the DHS policy by host Jody Hice.
Weber admitted that he was not a fan of the program because he would prefer to see undocumented immigrants "really be punished," joking that he'd like to see them pushed out of airplanes over their homeland.
"It's a plane ticket and $1,000," Webber said. "I'm a Texan. I guess I'm old school. I think that they ought to really be punished in some fashion. Maybe they either get—I'll say this tongue in cheek—they get a plane ride ... We fly over their country, open the door, [and] they can either have $1,000 or a parachute."
As Weber and Hice laughed, Weber quickly declared, "I'm not gonna say that in front of the camera," prompting Hice to remind him that he had just done exactly that.
"You did," Hice replied. "You did."
