Faced with a new administration laser focused on mass deportation and the real possibility of being sent to a mega-prison in Central America, many illegal migrants are choosing to hit the exit button voluntarily.

A number of foreign nationals in Denver, the city that absorbed the most illegal migrants per capita than any other major U.S. city, are becoming far more receptive to the idea of self-deportation, according to a report from the New York Times. The current sentiment is a sea change from the Biden-era, when immigration officials allowed millions of foreign nationals to apply for asylum and remain.

Christian, a 29-year-old Venezuelan national who arrived in Denver in 2023, obtained a work permit and requested asylum, according to the NYT. However, he told the outlet that his feelings have changed “360 degrees” since Trump returned to the White House, and he has since made an appointment with a judge to request voluntary departure from the U.S.

“I just hope to manage to leave before they deport me,” Jesus, a 29-year-old Venezuelan, said to the NYT. He arrived in the U.S. in 2024 and was detained for some time before being released. He now says he’d rather return voluntarily to his home country rather than be detained again.

The current crackdown is a major deviation from the asylum policies implemented in the past four years. The Biden administration expanded the CBP One app, constructed Safe Mobility Offices across Latin America and established the CHNV program — all of which streamlined migrants’ ability to apply for asylum and enter the U.S. en masse before the Trump administration scrapped or defunded them all.

More than 18 million illegal migrants are estimated to be living in the U.S., according to the most recent study released by the Federation for American Immigration Reform. Those new figures were released after 8.5 million migrant encounters were recorded along the U.S.-Mexico border during the four fiscal years of the Biden administration.

The Biden White House oversaw the worst humanitarian crisis at the southern border in history, with fiscal years 2023 and 2024 being the highest and second highest, respectively, of recorded migrant encounters, according to Customs and Border Protection data. Before Biden finally issued an election-year directive that began a slowdown of encounters, millions of illegal migrants had already entered the country.

After winning election to a second term in an electoral landslide, in part on a pledge to crack down on the illegal immigration crisis, President Donald Trump got to work on enforcement reforms. The Trump administration deployed troops at the southern border, successfully coerced Canada and Mexico to put more effort into border security and designated a number of transnational gangs and cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.

Trump also threw the hammer down on interior enforcement, successfully pushing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to apprehend tens of thousands of illegal migrants in the first months of his administration. The ICE arrests, which far surpass the rate of the previous administration, included convicted criminals and gangbangers loyal to Tren de Aragua, MS-13 and other ruthless crime syndicates.

In an unprecedented agreement, the Trump administration reached a deal with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele allowing U.S. authorities to transport criminal illegal migrants to the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), a mega-prison in El Salvador that has the capacity to hold up to 40,000 inmates. The maximum-security prison is not known for being a relaxing venue, where prisoners are packed tightly into cells, recreation and visitation are forbidden and cellphone signals are blocked.

While Trump fights a court challenge on his use of wartime powers to deport Tren de Aragua gang members, media attention has surrounded the Venezuelan nationals who were already deported to the mega-prison.

While Venezuelans see some of their countrymen be sent to one of the largest prisons in the world, the Trump administration is encouraging all illegal migrants to leave on their own accord. Earlier in March, the administration rolled out the CBP Home app — a relaunch of the Biden-era CBP One app that now includes a feature for illegal migrants to declare their intentions to self-deport.

“The Biden Administration exploited the CBP One app to allow more than 1 million aliens to illegally enter the United States,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem previously said. “With the launching of the CBP Home app, we are restoring integrity to our immigration system.”

“The CBP Home app gives aliens the option to leave now and self-deport, so they may still have the opportunity to return legally in the future and live the American dream,” Noem went on. “If they don’t, we will find them, we will deport them, and they will never return.”

Ranjani Srinivasan, an Indian national student allegedly involved in anti-Israel protests at Columbia University, notably used the app to leave the U.S. after the State Department revoked her student visa. Foreign nationals in Chicago, Ohio, and elsewhere across the U.S. have also self-deported, according to the NYT.

The monumental push for self-deportation —  and the subsequent signs of success of this effort —  appear as a far cry from years past. When then-Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney touted self-deportation as a viable immigration enforcement plan during a 2012 GOP debate, he drew audible laughs from the audience. Other critics at the time blasted the idea as a strategy blunder.

However, under Trump’s unprecedented crackdown on illegal immigration, the policy appears to be all the more realistic.

Rather than go through the trouble of remaining on the run, one 23-year-old Venezuelan illegal migrant walked into a Detroit ICE office building in February and surrendered himself to authorities. The migrant reportedly told agents he needed to be taken into custody or else he’d go on to commit crimes.

AUTHOR

Jason Hopkins

Immigration reporter.

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