Nearly 429 undocumented immigrants in San Francisco filed voluntary departure applications between January 2025 and February 2026, according to Mission Local, citing data from the Transactional Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University. Many are asylum seekers who saw no other options.
Leave Voluntarily or Risk Deportation to Unknown Country
The Department of Homeland Security files so-called pretermit motions — requests to transfer asylum cases to third countries with which the United States has agreements. A person fleeing Colombia, for example, risks being sent to Honduras or Ecuador — countries they have never visited.
Researchers Joseph Gunther and Brandon Marrow found that at least 1,347 such motions were filed in San Francisco from January 2025 through the end of February 2026. Nationwide, immigration judges granted 23,000 similar requests during the same period, though most asylum seekers filed appeals.
The number of such motions surged nationwide in November 2025. Some federal attorneys filed up to 1,000 requests per day. The process stopped three weeks ago when a federal directive ordered ICE attorneys to cease filing pretermit motions. Officials did not provide reasons for the halt.
Choice Without Options
One San Francisco resident who fled Colombia three years ago after an armed group attacked her received notice in January that officials wanted to transfer her asylum case to Honduras or Ecuador. She had never been to either country. The mother of two decided to leave voluntarily, fearing arrest and detention.
At a hearing in San Francisco immigration court at 630 Sansome St., she informed the judge of her decision. She now has less than 120 days to leave the United States with her children.
Nicole Gorney, an immigration attorney with the nonprofit VIDAS, told Mission Local that Judge Frank A. Seminario, one of the few remaining immigration judges in San Francisco, now offers voluntary departure in nearly every case involving a pretermit motion. This marks a sharp departure from previous judges, most of whom were fired or resigned over the past year.
Cost of Fighting Back
David Hausman, co-chair of the Deportation Data Project at University of California, Berkeley, said the administration uses various tactics to convince people to give up. His team studied the rise in voluntary departures, and their data is widely used to analyze the immigration policy results of President Donald Trump’s second term.
Blaine Bookey, legal director at University of California Law in San Francisco, said one key tactic is the mass filing of pretermit motions. Asylum seekers face a dilemma: hire an attorney and fight through an expensive appeal, risking loss and deportation to an unfamiliar country, or leave on their own.
According to Gorney, the appeals process can cost $20,000 or more. Voluntary departure, unlike forced deportation, allows people to return to the United States without penalties. A formal removal order can bar entry for 10 years or eliminate eligibility for immigration benefits.
What’s Next
Despite the halt in pretermit motion filings three weeks ago, hundreds of already-filed petitions continue moving through Bay Area courts. For those who already chose voluntary departure, there is no turning back — their deadlines to leave the country are already counting down.
Source: Mission Local