Record number of immigration cases now ending in voluntary departure, report says
More than 80,000 immigrants chose voluntary departure as prolonged detention and tougher court odds pushed many to leave, court data show.
- Between January 2025 and March 2026, immigration judges issued more than 80,000 voluntary departure orders, according to the Vera Institute, marking a dramatic increase from the 11,400 issued during the final 15 months of the Biden administration.
- Acting Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons issued a memo in July 2025 ending bond hearings for immigrants who entered illegally, contributing to conditions where more than 70% of those granted voluntary departure were in immigration detention when they requested to leave.
- Ukrainian artist Roman Husar, held at the Eden Detention Center in Texas, abandoned his asylum claim after months in detention, telling the newspaper, "Nobody gets asylum here in Texas. Nobody." Attorneys argue the surge reflects coercion rather than voluntary choice.
- Republican-Appointed judges encourage detained immigrants to leave at higher rates than Democratic-appointed judges, with more than 93% of initially detained cases assigned to newly appointed judges resulting in orders requiring departure from the United States.
- Vera Institute researcher Jacquelyn Pavilon warned that voluntary departures are rising alongside removal orders, not instead of them, "and so the piece of the pie that's shrinking is the number of people who are allowed to remain in the United States.
13 Articles
13 Articles
Voluntary departures surge as illegal migrants abandon asylum claims under Trump enforcement crackdown
Immigration judges issued over 80,000 voluntary departure orders between January 2025 and March 2026, a sevenfold increase from the final 15 months of the Biden administration. More than 70% of those granted voluntary departure under President Trump were in immigration detention when they requested to leave. The monthly rate surged from approximately 750 under Biden […]
More than 80,000 illegal immigrants accept voluntary departure under Trump-era enforcement pressure
Immigration judges issued more than 80,000 voluntary departure orders between January 2025 and March of this year, a pace roughly seven times higher than anything seen under the Biden administration, as the Trump White House’s crackdown on illegal immigration pushes detained migrants to leave the country on their own rather than fight cases they increasingly...
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