More Immigrants Are Giving Up Court Fights and Leaving the U.S.

The Marshall Project released a report that shows a telling immigration trend:

“The number of immigrants who have applied for voluntary departure has soared since the election of Donald Trump, according to new Justice Department data obtained by The Marshall Project. In fiscal year 2018, the number of applications doubled from the previous year—rising much faster than the 17 percent increase in overall immigration cases, according to data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University. The numbers show yet another way the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration is having an impact: More people are considering leaving the U.S., rather than being stuck in detention or taking on a lengthy legal battle with little hope of success.”

The spike in voluntary departures should not be surprising.  The Trump administration’s immigration enforcement measures, including detention, lengthy waits for removal hearings, tightening of forms of relief, and more all create the environment designed to convince immigrants that hope is lost and to throw in the towel.  That was one of the aims of the Reagan administration’s widespread detention of Central Americans in the 1980s and it is the aim of the Trump administration.  Encouraging “”self-deportation” is the goal.

KJ