In its continued attempts to step up enforcement of United States immigration laws, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) drew intense criticism and ridicule from liberals, conservatives, and everyone in between for the failure of its “Scheduled Departure” program in August.

This program offered illegal immigrant fugitives with no criminal record the opportunity to take 90 days to put their effects in order, say goodbye to their families, and leave the country, without any jail time.

Of the approximately 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States, 572,000 individuals are classified as “fugitives,” meaning they have failed to comply with a court order to leave the country. Approximately 457,000 of these fugitives had no criminal record and were eligible for the self-deportation program.

After only two and a half weeks, the pilot program was scrapped, as only eight eligible fugitives volunteered to leave the country. Immigrant advocates argue that the program was bound to fail as it offered no incentive for fugitives to leave, and that ICE has used the humiliating failure of the program to justify increased raids on illegal immigrants in their homes.

The self-deportation program, designed to quell criticism that ICE’s enforcement policies are extreme and disruptive to families, still prohibited participants from returning to the U.S. for up to 10 years, as is the case with regular deportation.

This program begs the question: What would you do? Would the reward of being in the U.S. be greater than the risk of being caught and deported? Would you sacrifice the safety and support of your family in order to leave the country with no jail time during removal proceedings?

If you have questions about immigration laws, deportation processes and options available to both legal and illegal immigrants, contact our firm for a consultation.