Noncitizens Are Choosing Voluntary Departure in Increasing Numbers

An incident in Spotsylvania reveals how this destabilizes a family.

By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
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Photo by Amine mouzaoui on Unsplash

Ana Arroyo’s friend arrived in the United States in the 1990s, when he was in his late teens.

He came from Mexico, fleeing state-sanctioned violence and a childhood in which he was denied education, Arroyo said.

In the U.S., he married, settled in Spotsylvania, and started a family, which grew to five children, all born here. His oldest son is a student at Germanna Community College, and the rest attend local public schools.

He built a business as a skilled brick mason, paid taxes, and supported his family on his income.

“I think he did live the American Dream,” Arroyo said. “To have limited education and now have a son in college. To see somebody who had a terrible childhood with no schooling become successful, have a business and pay taxes, and change his life around—that’s rare, that doesn’t happen.”

That dream ended for Arroyo’s friend this week, when he decided to self-deport to Mexico after being detained on May 13 by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at a job site in Fairfax.

“He went peacefully,” Arroyo said. “But he can’t wait to get out. He doesn’t like the atmosphere in detention. It’s causing so much anxiety.”

She said he had noticed potential ICE activity near his work site the day before, but still reported to work the following day.

Voluntary departure rates are up in Virginia, nationwide

Arroyo’s friend, who is not being named in order to protect his family, is one of a growing number of undocumented immigrants who are choosing voluntary deportation, rather than remain in detention awaiting court proceedings or being forced to leave the country.

Voluntary departure allows a noncitizen to leave the country without being subject to a bar on reentry, according to the Deportation Database.

In Virginia, 1,910 immigration cases have ended in voluntary deportation this fiscal year, according to data compiled at Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. Last year, 1,958 cases ended this way, the first time since 1998 that the number of voluntary deportations surpassed 1,000.

In fiscal year 2024, just 528 cases ended in voluntary deportation. The lowest number since 1998 was 89 in fiscal year 2021.

According to the Deportation Database’s April 7, 2026, report on one year of immigration enforcement under the second Trump administration, the number of people giving up on their cases and accepting removal increased by a factor of 28 last year.

“Not everyone who gives up on their case receives voluntary departure or voluntary return; many simply accept a removal order. That means that either voluntary departure or removal may follow from the pressure created by immigration detention,” the report states. “Of course, many other factors, including the purge of immigration judges, may also have contributed to these trends. There is no way to know from the data how many removal orders are the result of people giving up, but the combination of the increase in voluntary departures/returns and the decline in releases suggests that giving up to avoid more time in detention is an important part of the story.”

Most noncitizens are settled and employed, new estimates find

Arroyo’s friend was among the almost 17% of undocumented immigrants who have made Virginia their home for more than 20 or more years, according to new estimates published earlier this month by the Center for Migration Studies.

Sixty-five percent of Virginia’s 342,000 undocumented immigrants have lived in the state for more than five years, indicating that they are settled and established in their communities.

He was also among the 73% of undocumented immigrants who are employed, according to CMS, and the 79% of those living above the poverty threshold.

But with his departure, his family is now vulnerable to falling below that threshold. Arroyo said his wife, who is also undocumented, does not work, and all the children except the oldest are still minors.

“They are very good kids,” Arroyo said. “They speak [Spanish and English] perfectly.”

She said she told her friend’s wife to expect ICE to detain her, too.

“I hope she doesn’t think they’re not coming for her,” Arroyo said. “I told her to sell everything and volunteer to leave, rather than get arrested. I told her, ‘Don’t plan to stay here.’”

“It’s a lot of responsibility that he now has”

The week before her friend was arrested, Arroyo said, his son was followed by a black Nissan Pathfinder, which turned out to be driven by ICE agents. They pulled him over, checked his ID, and eventually let him go.

“They thought he was his dad,” Arroyo said. “He told me after that happened, he now believes that if they come after his parents, it will be his fault. I asked him if he was OK, and he said he was, but I saw his jaw trembling.”

“Now, not being able to see his father, I’m afraid it’s going to break him,” Arroyo said. “He’s only 18 years old. It’s a lot of responsibility that he now has.”

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