What Is Self-Deportation and Is It a Wise Option for Undocumented Immigrants?

Starting in 2025, the Trump Administration began encouraging people who are in the United States without lawful status to "self-deport," known as "Project Homecoming." It even repurposed an app that was once meant for making asylum appointments near the southern border (the CBP One app) to a mechanism for reporting one's self-deportation (the CBP Home app), and promised $1,000 to those who used it to report their departure.

Before considering engaging in such an act, however, it's worth understanding the legal implications, as discussed below.

What Is the Legal Definition of Self-Deportation?

There is no definition of self-deportation found in U.S. immigration law. It's not a "thing."

The closest one might find to the self-deportation concept is where an immigration judge has actually issued an order of deportation in someone's case, that order has become final, and the person then decides not to wait for a government transport to their home country but instead to leave the U.S. on their own.

There is also a related legal option called "voluntary departure" or "voluntary return" (VR), which a judge can grant early on in immigration court proceedings, allowing the foreign national to leave the United States on their own. This is a formal arrangement, in which the immigrant must concede deportability, in some cases post a bond, and leave the United States by a certain date set by the judge.

The reason some people choose VR is that it avoids having a deportation on their record, which is a bar to future U.S. entry for at least five years. (See Why Request Voluntary Departure Instead of Removal?) and How Long After Deportation Must I Wait Before Returning to the U.S.?) Failure to leave the United States by the scheduled date would convert the judge's grant into an order of deportation. (See Voluntary Departure: What Happens If You Don't Leave the United States?.)

What Does the U.S. Government Think Self-Deportation Is?

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) states on its website that "Self-deportation is the act of leaving the U.S. on your own initiative when you're illegally present." It names some benefits to self-deportation (such as being able to plan and organize your departure, with "concierge" assistance from U.S. government agencies) and some risks to not self-deporting (such as the possibility that ICE might catch, arrest, and detain you before ultimately deporting you). You might also see signs on the walls of U.S. immigration courts encouraging self-deportation.

ICE's actions in the early months of the Trump administration have also emphasized its aim to make undocumented immigrants feel sufficiently uncomfortable, and scared about the prospect of being not only detained but sent to a foreign prison, that they will elect to depart of their own accord.

The ICE website also states that the agency "may agree to seek dismissal of removal proceedings if you prove you left the U.S. on your own—and that way, you may be able to avoid getting a final order of removal (and the negative consequences that come with it)." However, ICE fails to describe any mechanism to ask for such a dismissal. There is nothing formalized about this supposed process. In particular, it remains unclear why or how ICE would "agree to seek dismissal of removal proceedings," since it doesn't stand to gain much by going through this effort.

The ICE website neglects to mention the potential negative legal consequences of leaving the United States on one's own, particularly for people who were already in removal proceedings.

What Are the Possible Down Sides to Self-Deportation?

If you leave the United States on your own, you could end up:

• abandoning claims you're entitled to make
• with an order of deportation on your record, and
• subject to a 3- or 10-year bar on reentry.

Staying in the United States, particularly if you have been a law-abiding person up to now, does offer you some legal benefits. If, for example, you fear persecution in your home country and thus might have a case for asylum, but then you left the United States, you would no longer be able to submit that asylum application. (Asylum can be applied for only while someone is in the United States.)

Or, if you have been hoping to apply for cancellation of removal based on your minimum 10 years in the United States with good moral character, which application can be made only in U.S. immigration court, you would lose that possibility if you were to leave the United States. If you later returned, and hoped to pick up on that cancellation of removal possibility, you wouldn't be able to count your earlier years in the U.S. toward the 10-year minimum.

And if you were to decide later to try to enter the United States lawfully, you could be subject to a 3- or 10-year inadmissibility bar based on your past unlawful presence; or if you tried to enter unlawfully, you could become subject to the "permanent bar" on admissibility based on the repeated illegal entries. Some government publicity materials claim that self-deporting will make it easier to return at a later time, but there is no apparent legal basis for such statements.

Finally, ICE has not given full assurances that it will not only keep track of who has self-deported, but terminate their deportation proceedings accordingly. If you don't show up in immigration court on a date you are scheduled for a hearing, the immigration judge could still order you deported in absentia, meaning based on your absence. You might think this isn't a big deal, since you're already gone from the United States, but it could have negative consequences on your ability to lawfully return. Every order of deportation raises the penalties against people who seek U.S. reentry; for one thing, it usually creates a minimum five-year bar on reentry. (See How Long After Deportation Must I Wait Before Returning to the U.S.?)

As for whether the U.S. government will successfully follow through on its promises of a $1,000 "travel stipend," that remains to be seen. Bear in mind that you must already be outside of the United States in order to collect.

See an Attorney Before Considering Self-Deportation

The above information is only an overview, and can't take into account the uniqueness of your situation. Before deciding to self-deport, it would be worthwhile to consult with an experienced immigration attorney. You might have legal options you were unaware of, which the attorney can help you follow up on.