Voluntary Departures Hit Record High as Detained Immigrants Lose Hope of Getting Released or Winning in Court

As pathways to freedom have narrowed in immigration courts across the United States, a record number of detainees are giving up their cases and voluntarily leaving the country.

Last year, 28% of completed immigration removal cases among those in detention ended in voluntary departure, a higher share than in any year prior, a CBS News analysis of decades of court records found.

That figure only appears to be climbing as the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown widens and detention populations swell. The percentage of voluntary departures among those detained grew nearly every month of 2025, reaching 38% in December. The analysis does not include those who were not given a hearing before an immigration judge, such as immigrants in expedited removal proceedings.

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About 73,000 people were being held in ICE detention in mid-January, the highest level ever recorded by DHS, CBS News previously reported.

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{snip} Last year, 30% of rulings on bond were favorable to detainees, down from 59% in 2024, the CBS News analysis found.

Under the Trump administration, DHS has moved to subject anyone who entered the U.S. illegally to mandatory detention, rather than only those apprehended near the border, removing judges’ authority to grant bond. In December, a California district judge ruled that DHS’s sweeping use of mandatory detention is unlawful, but the chief immigration judge issued guidance telling immigration judges the ruling was not binding, according to a memo obtained by the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

Judges may also be afraid to rule out of step with the administration’s deportation agenda, Grant said, as the Trump administration has fired dozens of judges.

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Many detainees are seeking release by filing habeas corpus petitions in federal court, which compel a judge to evaluate the legality of their detention. In some cases, that shifts the burden of proof onto the government to show that a detainee is a flight risk. But not everyone has the resources to file a habeas corpus petition, Grant said, and not all petitions are successful.

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Many of the people in removal proceedings are seeking asylum, and asylum grant rates have plummeted, according to immigration court data analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. More than half of asylum requests were granted each month from 2022 to 2024, but 29% were granted by December 2025.

In recent months, DHS has also moved to cut thousands of asylum cases short by asking judges to send asylum seekers to third countries.

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