Immigrants are giving up their cases and leaving the U.S. in soaring numbers.

People facing the prospect of prolonged ICE detention are increasingly abandoning their claims for humanitarian protection and agreeing to depart voluntarily

WASHINGTON, D.C. (TIP): Immigrants are giving up their claims for humanitarian protection and opting to depart the United States in exponentially higher numbers under the Trump administration, mostly from the austere confines of federal detention centers where they increasingly face prolonged stays.

Immigration judges issued more than 80,000 “voluntary departure” orders from January 2025 through March of this year, according to court data obtained by the Vera Institute of Justice and shared with The Washington Post. Such orders are granted to immigrants who request to leave on their own terms while giving up the opportunity to seek a new life in the U.S. They are not given a formal deportation order, which could make it easier for them to return legally in the future.

The number of people abandoning their immigration cases is at least seven times as high as the number seen in the last 15 months of the Biden administration, when 11,400 took that option. More than 70 percent of those granted a voluntary departure order during President Donald Trump’s second administration were being held in immigration detention when they made the request, a far higher share than those who departed willingly while Joe Biden was in the White House.

The shift is one of the most striking data points to emerge from Trump’s mass deportation campaign and appears to be part of his broader effort to purge millions of immigrants from the U.S. Officials have promoted the option on social media and in posters plastered in detention centers and courts. Immigration attorneys say the spike reflects the mounting strain on people who are facing long stints in detention as they await a hearing in immigration court, where it has become increasingly difficult to win asylum.

“These changes come at the same time as the number of people who are detained and facing deportation is increasing and relatively fewer people are being released from detention,” Vera researchers Jacquelyn Pavilion and Neil Agarwal concluded in a report for the nonprofit organization, which is focused on improving the criminal justice and immigration systems. “Altogether, Vera’s analysis illuminates how voluntary departure is being used in the second Trump administration to require more people to leave the United States.”

Voluntary departure has long existed under federal law for those who are facing removal from the country and it’s an option for those who are unlikely to win in immigration court. To qualify, immigrants cannot have a serious criminal record and must demonstrate good moral character. They must depart within a specific time frame established by a judge and are typically required to leave at their own expense.

The Department of Homeland Security declined to comment on the increase in voluntary departures and repeated its unsubstantiated claim that millions have “self-deported” since Inauguration Day “because illegal aliens know President Trump is enforcing our immigration laws.”

The agency defended its efforts to detain immigrants for the duration of their court proceedings, saying officials are seeking to deport those who arrived illegally under Biden.

“Biden and [then-Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas] recklessly unleashed millions of unvetted illegal aliens into American communities — and they abused many loopholes to do so,” DHS said in a statement. “President Trump and Secretary [Markwayne] Mullin are now enforcing this law as it was actually written to keep America safe.”
(Source: Washington Post)