The United States' first self-deportation flight carried migrants back to Honduras with $1,000 stipends as part of the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) new initiative.

The flight carried a group of 38 Hondurans, who arrived at Ramon Villeda Morales International Airport on Monday afternoon. The individuals previously applied to the initiative through a mobile app that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) provided.

Honduran Deputy Foreign Minister Antonio Garcia said the group that arrived included mothers with children, who were all given $1,000 each. Among the kids, four were born in the United States while one was born in Mexico.

The children allegedly left the country with their Honduran relatives to avoid being separated as a family. Honduran Migration Director Wilson Paz Reyes said the U.S. government decided with the families to return to their home country to avoid family disintegration, according to CNN.

One of the people deported was Wilson Saenz, who said that after requesting to be removed from the United States, authorities flew him to a hotel in Houston, Texas. They then dropped him off at an airport and gave him food before he was boarded on a flight home.

Another individual in the group, Kevin Posadas, said that after he applied for self-deportation, officials messaged migrants. They told them to present themselves and "depending on what state they're in," they would be transferred to a place that is closer to bring them to Honduras.

In a press release, the DHS said that the self-deportation flight was a voluntary charter flight and not part of an ICE enforcement operation. The agency added that all of the participants were offered the same benefits as any illegal alien who self-deports using the CBP Home App, The Hill reported.

The individuals who participated in the initiative were given travel assistance, a $1,000 stipend, and assurance that it is still possible for them to return to the United States through a legal channel in the future.

The flight comes as earlier this month, the Trump administration announced it would start offering travel assistance as well as stipends for migrants who register to self-deport through the CBP Home App.

The initiative, known as "Project Homecoming," is part of President Donald Trump's continued crackdown on illegal immigration. The program also involves the detention of hundreds of migrants in a Salvarodan mega-prison.

The government also announced in March that people in the U.S. illegally are still given the chance to make use of the CBP Home App. This would let them voluntarily depart the country to their home nations, as per MSN.