A young, pregnant Venezuelan woman came to the US without documentation last year. After giving birth and settling in Ohio, she found that trying to stay in the country was too hard. She had no family support for herself and her newborn, and struggled to find work and housing. So she decided to self-deport.
The Trump administration has been virtually begging immigrants in the US to self-deport. It’s self-deportation, the White House says, or risk the wrath of ICE, the country’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
But self-deportation has been nearly impossible for this woman and others like her, lawyers and immigration activists tell WIRED. Guidance from the US government for those who have decided to self-deport has been confusing and sparse, leaving many immigration attorneys and advocates in the dark. Some immigrants trying to leave the country voluntarily through government-endorsed mechanisms say they have found themselves in limbo or, worse, detained.
CBP Home, the app from Customs and Border Protection that’s supposed to help immigrants self-deport, is only somewhat helpful, and it launches some immigrants into a confusing and drawn-out bureaucratic process, says Jessica Ramos, an immigration attorney practicing in Ohio who represents the stranded woman. That, coupled with little help from the US government, has made getting out of the US “an odyssey,” Ramos claims.
Ramos’ client, who asked not to be named but gave permission for her story to be shared, does not have a Venezuelan passport or the money for a flight. She says she filled out her information on the CBP Home app, then received a notice that she would receive a call from the US government to help her arrange her departure. She says the call never came.
This isn’t what’s supposed to happen: In March, the Department of Homeland Security released CBP Home, which theoretically facilitates self-deportation, providing a form for undocumented immigrants to fill out. It also offers help booking tickets for those needing assistance, the waiving of fines, “cost-free travel,” and a $1,000 bonus. Those who use the app aren’t supposed to have criminal histories and are also meant to be “temporarily deprioritized” for detention and deportation. Initially, CBP Home was advertised as an all-in-one app that would help with everything from travel documents to financial assistance.
Immigration has become the centerpiece of the Trump administration’s policy agenda, and the White House has heavily encouraged immigrants in the US to leave of their own volition. On May 9, the White House announced Project Homecoming, claiming the government would provide assistance for immigrants seeking to leave. According to the presidential proclamation, Project Homecoming promises to facilitate “travel for those lacking valid travel documents, and offers a concierge service at airports to assist with booking travel.”These services, the project said, would eventually be backed with $250 million the government had previously utilized to support refugees. In a statement issued in October, DHS claimed that more than 1.6 million people have “voluntarily self-deported” in 2025.
“It’s proven very difficult to get clear information from the government,” says Jennifer Ibañez Whitlock, senior policy counsel at the National Immigration Law Council.