A Mexican immigrant and widowed father of four signed a voluntary departure form after being detained at Broadview for days in terrible conditions. What he didn’t know was that he had an emergency hearing scheduled for his case and that he could’ve stayed in the U.S.

His case and others have raised questions about whether the voluntary departure process is actually voluntary, as immigrants report being coerced into signing documents they don’t fully understand due to language barriers and lack of legal knowledge.

The number of voluntary departures increased 21-fold during the first nine months of 2025, according to an analysis from the Deportation Data Project.

“People are giving up their rights to fight their case, and they’re being confronted with something in a high-pressure environment that is really something that needs careful consideration,” said Samuel Cole, senior supervising attorney and chief immigration litigation counsel at the ACLU of Illinois.

“It’s a very coercive environment, and we think that what’s happening in Broadview and really around the country, in terms of the voluntary departure, is extremely problematic.”

✍️ Read the full story by Aydali Campa at the link in our bio.
📸 Photos by @camillafortesilva