Deportation flights to remove illegal aliens (DHS Photo by ICE/Released)
Detained illegal aliens are choosing voluntary departure at the highest rate ever recorded, according to a new analysis of federal court records.
A CBS News review of decades of immigration court data shows that 28% of all completed removal cases involving detainees in 2025 ended with voluntary departure. This is higher than in any previous year on record.
The percentage has risen almost every month, reaching a high of 38% in December.
ICE detention numbers also hit a new record.
Approximately 73,000 people were held in custody in mid-January, the highest level ever reported by the Department of Homeland Security.
Immigration lawyers cited in the report acknowledged that many detainees now see little chance of success in court and are opting to leave quickly rather than remain locked up for months or years.
CBS reports:
One immigrant who asked that CBS News identify her only by her initials, U.G., as she is still seeking legal pathways to appeal her deportation, was relieved when a judge finally ordered for her deportation after 13 months in detention. Although she didn’t ask for voluntary departure, at one point she tried to convince her legal team to ask for her removal.
“I couldn’t fathom just continuing to sit there,” she said. “Every day that I sit here, I’m choosing to sit here. I can sign and have them remove me in three days.”
Even if she had been granted her claim for relief, she believed DHS would appeal it, leaving her in detention for even longer, or try to send her to a country other than her native Mexico, she said.
“They believe that the likelihood of them winning their case is so much lower than it ever used to be,” attorney Christopher Kinnison said of some of his clients. He has been working as an immigration lawyer in Louisiana for 15 years.
The increase in voluntary departures comes after the Trump administration expanded mandatory detention for anyone who entered the country illegally, restricted bond releases, and prioritized swift removals. Favorable bond rulings for detainees fell to just 30% in 2025, down from 59% the year before. Asylum grant rates dropped sharply as well, reaching only 29% by December.
DHS has reported that more than three million illegal aliens left the United States in the first year of Trump’s second term, including over 675,000 formal deportations and an estimated 2.2 million self-deportations.
The administration is also offering incentives through the CBP Home app, including $1,000 payments and free flights home, to encourage illegal aliens to depart voluntarily before being arrested and removed.
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