Immigration judges issue more than 80,000 voluntary departure orders since Trump took office

Immigration judges have issued more than 80,000 voluntary departure orders since President Trump returned to the White House, a figure that represents a more than sevenfold increase over the roughly 11,400 such orders issued during the final 15 months of the Biden administration, according to court data compiled by the Vera Institute of Justice and reviewed by the Washington Post.

Voluntary departure is a legal mechanism allowing immigrants to leave the United States without receiving a formal deportation order. Unlike forced removal, the option does not permanently bar reentry, leaving open the possibility of a future legal return. Immigrants generally must leave at their own expense and cannot have a serious criminal record to qualify.

Monthly voluntary departures surged from roughly 750 during the latter half of President Biden’s term to more than 6,000 following stepped-up enforcement raids in July 2025, and reached more than 9,000 in March 2026 alone.

More than 70% of the immigrants who accepted voluntary departure orders under the Trump administration did so from within detention facilities — a pattern immigration advocates say reflects deteriorating conditions inside those centers rather than a genuine willingness to leave.

“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,” said Shayna Kessler, director of the Advancing Universal Representation initiative at the Vera Institute of Justice.

The Department of Homeland Security framed the figures differently. A DHS spokesperson told the Washington Post that the Biden administration had “recklessly unleashed millions of unvetted illegal aliens into American communities” through various loopholes, and that “President Trump and Secretary Mullin are now enforcing this law as it was actually written to keep America safe.”

The spike in voluntary departures follows a July 2025 policy shift by acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, who issued a memo declaring that immigrants who entered the country illegally would generally no longer qualify for bond hearings while fighting their cases. That change sharply curtailed detainees’ ability to seek release while their immigration proceedings were pending, increasing pressure to accept departure deals.

ICE detention capacity expanded from roughly 40,000 beds in January 2025 to over 70,000 by January 2026, reaching a daily peak of 73,400 detainees — a historic high. The administration has separately promoted a voluntary self-deportation program through the CBP Home app, offering a $2,600 stipend and a free flight home for those who turn themselves in.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who replaced Kristi Noem in March 2026, said on Tuesday that the agency arrested more than 1,900 people in a single day and deported 2,700 people in the preceding week. Mr. Mullin has described the agency’s approach as deliberately lower-profile, telling Newsmax he “wanted to get DHS out of the headlines” while insisting enforcement remained focused on all immigrants in the country illegally.

The voluntary departure numbers are disputed in their significance. The Vera Institute has argued the trend reflects coercion rather than compliance, writing that voluntary departure “is an undesirable outcome for many, requiring departure from the United States with no guarantee of ever being able to return, a waiver of the chance to pursue relief on a case or appeal, and sometimes involving prolonged detention before a person can leave.” The Trump administration and its allies contend the figures demonstrate that stricter enforcement is achieving results.