The Department of Homeland Security has launched a new feature on the CBP Mobile Passport Control app. This feature, called “Report Departure,” allows undocumented immigrants to inform the DHS of their “Voluntary Departure,” also referred to as “Self Departure.” This allows immigrants to leave the country at their own expense and within a designated time window.

This campaign has been marketed by ads encouraging undocumented immigrants to leave the country, asserting that “a strong nation is a safe nation.”

In a technical sense, the new feature is designed to lift the pressure off immigrants and government agencies. But is it actually beneficial?

On one hand, self departure alleviates an immigrant’s legal and safety concerns. This allows the individual or family to maintain a clean record and avoid legal repercussions. If someone is deported or issued a removal order, they can be barred from re-entering the U.S. However, after voluntary departure, the individual can apply for a visa allowing them to return.

That being said, despite being labeled  “voluntary,” it’s questionable how much choice most immigrants actually have. These people still have to leave the country and face an uncertain future. Many of these immigrants are from families that worked hard to build a better life, and many have been raised under American values. For them, US culture is all they know, and yet they are faced with the decision of either leaving or being forcibly removed. In this way, “voluntary departure” acts not as a saving grace but an ultimatum. Furthermore, the financial burden of leaving and starting a new life is huge and, in some cases, far beyond a family’s financial means.

“I was shocked the first time I heard the commercial,” says Doreen Nelson, who saw the ad on TV. “I think it’s a ploy to scare people into leaving. It’s all so sad: family separated, people being displaced, and American children having to leave the country because their parents wanted a better life for them.”

That’s not to say that the US should allow unrestricted numbers of (undocumented) people into America. To some extent, the government must maintain control over who enters a country. This maintains a sense of structure, allowing a country to protect its domestic interests, whether it be resource and population control or matters of national security, which has become the focal point of many debates.

Statistically speaking, around 79% of the people deported from 2021 to 2024 were those with criminal convictions. However, while the deportations themselves may target criminals, the nature of ICE arrests, detention centers, and self-departure is very different. In fact, of the individuals detained recently by ICE, 41% had no criminal history.

Many people with friends and/or family affected by this situation are skeptical of government motivation.

“People are self departing for fear or beining criminalized,” from someone with a friend who immigrated legally but is choosing to leave after his TPS was unable to be renewed.

This brings us back to the question of “voluntary departure,” a long process that comes with several requirements, one of which includes a record free of criminal activity. So, if a criminal record makes someone ineligible for self-departure, why market this method as a way of creating a safer nation? Arguably, the surge in voluntary deportation can be attributed to the pressures of being held in detention centers or the fear of deportation itself.

This leads one to wonder: What is the endgame here?

It’s not irrational to be concerned about national security, but the way it’s being approached needs to change.