The number of migrants voluntarily choosing to leave the United States has seen a sharp increase under President Donald Trump’s administration, according to new data cited by The Washington Post. Between January 2025 and March 2026, immigration judges issued more than 80,000 voluntary departure orders to individuals who agreed to exit the country on their own terms. This figure represents a substantial rise compared to previous periods, marking a significant shift in immigration enforcement outcomes.
"Joe Biden let millions of unvetted “asylum seekers” flood into America.Those days are OVER under President Trump.Illegal aliens making fake asylum claims see the writing on the wall and are self-deporting in historic numbers!" — Lance Gooden, U.S. Representative
Voluntary departure is a legal mechanism that allows migrants to leave the U.S. without receiving a formal deportation order. Formal deportation can carry severe long-term or even permanent restrictions on an individual's ability to legally return to the country. By opting for voluntary departure, migrants can potentially preserve the possibility of future legal re-entry into the U.S., a key incentive for many.
The reported increase is more than seven times higher than during the final 15 months of former President Joe Biden’s administration, when approximately 11,400 migrants accepted similar voluntary departure agreements rather than continuing their immigration court proceedings, which often involve asylum or residency claims. The data underpinning these findings was compiled using information released by the Vera Institute of Justice, an immigration advocacy organization whose federal funding was notably reduced in 2025.
A significant aspect of the current trend is that over 70% of the migrants granted voluntary departure under President Trump’s administration were reportedly being held in immigration detention facilities at the time they agreed to leave the country. Officials with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reportedly support these voluntary departure agreements. From ICE's perspective, such agreements facilitate faster removals, thereby freeing up valuable detention space for additional immigration cases and maintaining the flow of enforcement operations.
President Trump's administration officials have attributed this increase in voluntary departures to the success of broader efforts aimed at reducing illegal immigration and accelerating removals through stricter border and detention policies. The rise follows the administration’s decision to scale back longstanding practices that had previously allowed many detained migrants to seek release while their immigration cases continued to navigate through the courts. Under prior policies, which had been utilized by multiple administrations since 1990, migrants were frequently released from detention and permitted to work in the U.S. while challenging their deportation proceedings.
This policy shift has not been without controversy. Immigration advocacy organizations have actively challenged the new detention policies, pushing federal courts to reinstate broader access to bond hearings for detained migrants seeking release. These legal efforts have resulted in conflicting rulings from federal appeals courts regarding the administration’s authority to limit bond hearings. Such legal disputes could ultimately pave the way for a review by the Supreme Court of the United States, potentially shaping the future of immigration detention policies.
The Vera Institute of Justice, while providing the data, has also expressed its view on the outcome. In a statement, the institute argued that voluntary departure, despite its procedural advantages over formal deportation, remains an undesirable outcome for many migrants. This is primarily because it necessitates leaving the U.S. without explicit guarantees of being allowed to legally return in the future, leaving individuals in a state of uncertainty regarding their long-term prospects. Additionally, it is believed that many more migrants are quietly leaving the country without formally notifying federal immigration authorities or courts about their departures, further complicating the full scope of this self-deportation trend.
