Voluntary Departures Surge as Immigrants Abandon U.S. Court Cases

According to a new report, immigrants facing the prospect of prolonged detention and tougher odds in immigration court are abandoning their cases and agreeing to leave the United States in soaring numbers.

The Washington Post reported that immigration judges issued more than 80,000 voluntary departure orders between January 2025 and March 2026, according to court data obtained by the Vera Institute of Justice and shared with the newspaper. The figure marks a dramatic increase from the final 15 months of the Biden administration, when about 11,400 immigrants chose the same option.

Voluntary departure allows immigrants to leave the country without receiving a formal deportation order, which can sometimes make it easier for them to legally return in the future. “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 Institute researchers Jacquelyn Pavilon and Neil Agarwal wrote in a report cited by the Post.

According to the report, more than 70% of immigrants granted voluntary departure orders during President Donald Trump‘s second term were being held in immigration detention when they requested to leave.

In July 2025, after high-profile immigration raids in Los Angeles, judges issued 6,370 voluntary departure orders in a single month. That same month, acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons issued a memo declaring that immigrants who entered the country illegally would generally no longer qualify for bond hearings while fighting their cases.

By March 2026, more than 9,000 immigrants received permission from judges to leave voluntarily in just one month. “People are taking it because they’re trying to get out of detention more quickly, because they don’t see any possible avenues for relief for themselves,” Shayna Kessler, director of the Advancing Universal Representation initiative at the Vera Institute of Justice, told the newspaper.

The Department of Homeland Security reportedly declined to comment directly on the rise in voluntary departures but defended the administration’s detention policies. In a statement quoted by The Washington Post, DHS accused the Biden administration of having “recklessly unleashed millions of unvetted illegal aliens into American communities.”

One detainee from the Middle East reportedly chose voluntary departure after suffering panic attacks and solitary confinement while being held by ICE. His brother told the newspaper the man feared he would die either in detention or if deported to another country. “He told me: ‘Look, I am dying here anyway. I’d rather die in my country instead of going to a place where I’m going to die,'” the brother said. “‘I cannot live without freedom.'”

Another immigrant, Ukrainian artist Roman Husar, told the newspaper he abandoned his asylum claim after months inside the Eden Detention Center in Texas. Husar had arrived legally in the U.S. through a Biden-era sponsorship program for Ukrainians fleeing Russia‘s invasion. He later ended up in ICE custody after being arrested in Texas for misdemeanor marijuana possession charges that were eventually dismissed.

“Nobody gets asylum here in Texas. Nobody,” Husar told the newspaper. “People, they are denied, denied, denied,” Husar said. He withdrew his asylum case after being assigned one of the Trump administration’s newly appointed immigration judges and fearing deportation to war-torn Ukraine. Jennifer Peyton, Husar’s attorney and one of the immigration judges fired earlier by the Trump administration, said the process was coercive.” This type of voluntary departure is not voluntary,” she said. “It’s coerced.”