Immigration judges issued more than 80,000 voluntary departure orders from January 2025 through March 2026, according to court data obtained by the Vera Institute of Justice—at least seven times higher than the 11,400 issued during the last 15 months of the Biden administration. Over 70 percent of those granted voluntary departure during Trump's second administration were being held in immigration detention. The Trump administration has promoted voluntary departure on social media and in posters at detention centers and courts. More than 9,000 people received permission to leave in March 2026. Immigration attorneys and researchers attribute the spike to prolonged detention without bond hearings, mounting psychological strain, newly appointed inexperienced judges, and soaring asylum denials, characterizing the trend as part of Trump's broader mass deportation agenda.