Facing crackdown, some immigrants choose to leave— but struggle with the process

Like many Mexican immigrants before them, Luis, his wife and their young daughter crossed the border to the U.S. in 2022 seeking a better and safer life. 

The family, whose names we are withholding because of their undocumented status, settled in the South Jersey area. They said they obtained work permits while they sought asylum through immigration court. Luis worked as a butcher at a local grocery store and his wife at a local restaurant. 

In late December, Luis took a different route to work in hopes of avoiding the ICE agents he had previously encountered on Federal Street in Camden. But as he was two blocks away from the grocery store, ICE officers pulled him onto a van and arrested him.

He was sent to an immigration detention center in Mississippi. 

“He needs to go back to his country. I don’t want him locked up, suffering,” his wife said in Spanish. 

As immigration enforcement ramps up nationwide, more undocumented immigrants are choosing to leave the U.S. rather than risk detention or deportation. But while voluntary departures are on the rise— and the Trump administration heavily promotes its self-deportation program— experts say there are significant barriers that can make it difficult even for those who want to leave to follow through.

“There are a lot of hoops to jump through even if you decide this is the route,” said Jaya Ramji-Nogales, an immigration law professor at Temple University. 

Luis’ wife says his arrest has taken an emotional and financial toll on them. She can barely pay rent, and worries that she too will get arrested. 

“What would happen to my daughter? I don’t have any family here,” she said.

Immigration experts say that fear is playing out in households across the country.

“People are worried about both the detention here, where the conditions are just really terrible, and maybe being sent to a country they don’t know,” said Ramji-Nogales.

Increasingly, she said, immigrants are trying to take control of that uncertainty by choosing to leave on their own terms.

“A lot more people are choosing voluntary departure,” she said.

Voluntary departure is granted by an immigration court judge and allows someone to leave the country at their own expense within a set period of time and avoid a formal deportation order.

“Then you can apply for a visa to return right away. So for some people, that’s going to be a better option,” Ramji-Nogales said. 

In fiscal year 2025, more than 34,707 people nationwide were granted voluntary departure, according to the U.S. Department of Justice data— up from 8,663 the year before.

The federal government has also promoted “self-deportation” through its Project Homecoming program, which offers a free flight and a $2,600 cash incentive to non-criminal undocumented immigrants who request departure through a federal app.

On its website, the government says leaving voluntarily “may improve future immigration options,” but notes the program does not guarantee any immigration benefits.

In a statement, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said “tens of thousands” of people have used the app, and that 2.3 million undocumented immigrants have left the U.S. since January 2025.

But Ramji-Nogales cautions that those numbers may be unreliable.

“We don’t have exit controls— we can’t possibly know how many people are leaving,” she said.

NBC10 asked DHS for clarification on how those figures were calculated but did not receive a response.

Back in Camden, Luis’ wife said she didn’t know about the self-deportation program. She believes it may now be too late for him to apply.

She hired an attorney to represent him at a Feb. 11 immigration hearing in Louisiana, where he requested voluntary departure.

She says the judge denied that request.

Luis, who has no criminal record, was instead ordered removed— meaning deported. He chose not to appeal in hope of getting home sooner– regardless of the future consequences a removal order may bring.

But more than three months since his arrest, he is still in a jail cell. 

“He’s been expelled,” his wife said. “What are they waiting for?”

An ICE spokesperson told us in part in a statement that: “Luis … is an illegal alien from Mexico who unlawfully entered the United States without inspection at least five times. He was given the opportunity to return voluntarily more than once and still returned illegally.”

As for why Luis hasn’t been sent to Mexico yet, the spokesperson said: “Every immigration case is unique, and timing of proceedings varies widely as they are afforded a due process.”

For now, Luis remains in detention, waiting.

His wife says their next steps are uncertain. She wants to see Luis safely returned to Mexico before deciding whether to stay in the United States or leave herself– with her daughter.

“Until he is back (in Mexico), I’m going to keep fighting,” she said.