When Voluntary Departure Is Not Voluntary: Challenging an Immigration Judge’s Grant of Voluntary Departure

The second Trump administration’s immigration enforcement tactics have increased pressure on detained noncitizens to accept voluntary departure, sometimes through misinformation, harsh detention conditions, and pressure from DHS and immigration judges (IJs). This practice advisory provides practitioners with a starting point to identify and evaluate potential legal challenges to waivers of appeal associated with IJ-issued pre-conclusion voluntary departure orders, discusses procedural options for raising those challenges, and includes a template Notice of Appeal for practitioners to adapt to the circumstances of an individual case.