Green Card Holders and Self-Deportation in ICE Detention, 2025

First, identified linkable resources in order of appearance:
1. Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status
2. Form EOIR-26 / Notice of Appeal to the BIA
3. Form EOIR-26 (same as above; only first mention counts)
4. Application for a Stay of Deportation or Removal (Form I-246)
5. ICE Detention Management

Now the article with only the specified .gov links added (only first mention of each resource linked, up to 5 total). No other changes were made.

(UNITED STATES) A phrase making the rounds online — “Husband With Approved Green Card Self-Deports After Months in ICE Detention” — doesn’t match any single, widely documented case in public records as of September 15, 2025. But the storyline is believable in today’s enforcement climate, where record-high ICE Detention levels, long case backlogs, and uneven access to bond can push people toward voluntary departure to end months in custody. Legal advocates say these pressures can touch families even when a spouse already has an approved green card case on paper, or believes permanent residence is secure.

Federal data show the scale and the stakes. In early September 2025, ICE held roughly 58,766 people in detention nationwide, the highest number on record. According to ICE’s own published figures and analyses by independent researchers:

• About 70.8% of detainees have no criminal convictions.
• More than 90% are confined in privately run facilities.

The largest clusters are in Texas, followed by Louisiana, California, Georgia, and Arizona — states where immigration courts are backlogged and where bond practices can vary widely from courtroom to courtroom. VisaVerge.com reports that rising detention counts combined with court delays have increased pressure on people in removal cases to make fast, painful choices about their futures.

How people end up detained despite an “approved” case

When deportation processes begin, a person is typically served a charging document called a Form I-862 Notice to Appear, which starts removal proceedings in immigration court. From there, cases can move slowly, especially if an immigration judge must review complex questions about status, past conduct, or paperwork errors.

Approval of one step (for example, a family petition) does not guarantee final green card status. Old arrests, alleged fraud, or prior deportation orders can still trigger custody — which is why someone with an “approved” path to residence can still land in detention.

Record detention levels set the stage

The detention system is stretched beyond intended capacity. Congress funds about 41,500 detention beds, but ICE has held far more people in custody through 2025, an overcrowding that advocacy groups say worsens conditions and limits access to attorneys.

• Reports of hunger strikes and protests in multiple facilities occurred in 2024–2025.
• While the Biden administration has signaled support for humane enforcement, detention numbers climbed to historic highs under President Biden, drawing criticism from immigrant rights organizations and some lawmakers.
• Critics argue non-dangerous people could be managed through community programs rather than jail-like custody.

Removal priorities have shifted in recent years:

• Interior deportations averaged around 38,000 per year in FY 2021–2024, focused more on people with criminal records.
• Border removals rose, with more than 224,000 border removals in FY 2024.

Yet the interior system still sweeps up people with pending or approved cases — including those who believe a green card decision is imminent — when officers allege public safety concerns or find technical grounds to charge deportability.

Inside detention, bond is not guaranteed:

• Some people never get a bond hearing.
• Others face high bond amounts that families cannot afford.
• Lawyers describe racial and regional disparities in outcomes.

For a spouse separated from children and work for months, even a strong case can feel impossible to fight from behind bars. That is where voluntary departure, sometimes called “self-deportation,” becomes an option.

How “self-deportation” happens — even with an approved path

“Self-deportation” commonly refers to two legal paths:

• Voluntary departure granted by an immigration judge, or
• Voluntary return coordinated with DHS.

Both let a person leave the United States on their own within a set time. Benefits and drawbacks:

• Upside: Avoids a formal removal order, which can trigger long bars to reentry.
• Downside: Families split, jobs lost, and a harder future path back.

Key steps people in these situations encounter include:

1. Charging documents and court
   • Proceedings start with the Form I-862 Notice to Appear, which lays out the government’s allegations.
   • An immigration judge then sets hearings to decide removability and any relief.
2. Bond or parole decisions
   • Some detainees may request release; outcomes vary by jurisdiction and facts.
   • If bond is denied or set too high, detention can stretch for months.
3. Pursuing status versus leaving
   • People with family-based cases may be midstream on Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status if eligible to adjust status in the United States.
   • The official USCIS page for Form I-485 is here: Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status.
   • Any criminal allegations, prior immigration orders, or entry issues can block approval, and detention makes gathering evidence hard.

1. Appeals and time pressure
   • If an immigration judge orders removal, a person can appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals using Notice of Appeal to the BIA.
   • Appeals can take months, often while the person remains detained.
2. Voluntary departure
   • Some detainees ask the judge for voluntary departure or agree to depart to end custody, reduce penalties, and control timing.
   • For others, departure becomes the last option after losing bond, losing at trial, or facing a bleak appeal.

What “approved” means and the limits of that approval

Families often ask whether someone truly has a “green card” if they are in custody. The answer depends on status:

• If a person already became a lawful permanent resident, ICE can still detain them if the government believes certain crimes or fraud trigger deportability — though that is rarer.
• More commonly, the phrase refers to a spouse with an approved visa petition (the family sponsorship step) or an approved adjustment application that still awaits final issuance.
• Even an approval can be revisited if DHS alleges that key facts were wrong or that grounds of inadmissibility apply.

Practical tools and legal filings

Some tools can pause immediate removal or help manage timing:

• Form I-246 — Application for a Stay of Deportation or Removal
  • Can request a short-term pause; approval is discretionary but can buy time for urgent needs.

• Form I-131 — Application for Travel Document
  • Used in non-detained contexts for travel or humanitarian issues; once in custody, options narrow.

Advocates note prolonged detention often shifts leverage toward the government. When a spouse sits in a faraway county jail under an ICE contract, every choice has a cost: wait months for a hearing while losing income and contact with kids, or accept voluntary departure to leave within weeks and plan a safer return attempt later from abroad. Advocates argue that community-based alternatives could keep families together while cases move forward, at a fraction of the cost.

Practical guardrails for families and counsel

For those still fighting, a few practical steps can help:

• Keep proof of marriage and any step approvals (receipts, approval notices) ready for counsel to present in court.
• Track hearing dates and deadlines carefully. Missed dates can lead to in-absentia removal orders.
• Ask counsel to pursue bond redetermination if new evidence arises (stable housing, job offers, community support letters).
• Document medical needs and any facility issues. These details may affect custody decisions and humanitarian requests.

Perspectives and policy context

Government officials defend high detention levels as necessary to enforce immigration laws and protect public safety. DHS says its priorities focus on border security and people who pose risks, while also processing large numbers of new arrivals.

• Immigrant rights groups counter that detaining mostly non-criminal people in remote prisons is costly and inhumane.
• Legal scholars warn that extended civil detention raises due process concerns, especially when bond is denied or delayed.
• Lawmakers have proposed bills to curb private detention, expand bond access, and invest in case management programs, but no sweeping overhaul has passed.

ICE continues to update detention counts and facility data, though researchers say transparency gaps persist, including incomplete reporting by some sites. One official resource for detention and facility guidance is: ICE Detention Management.

For families facing these decisions, the human story comes first: a mother juggling two jobs while her spouse sits in custody three states away; kids asking when dad is coming home; an attorney saying the next hearing is months out. In that space, “self-deportation” might sound like control — a ticket out of confinement — but it can also close doors, create long bars to reentry, and force a move back to a country the family barely knows anymore.

Even without a headline-grabbing case, the pattern is familiar to anyone working in detention defense today: record ICE Detention numbers meet slow-moving deportation processes. When hope rests on a paper approval and a hearing months away, people sometimes choose the only certain date on the calendar: the departure flight. The broader policy question remains whether a civil system built to sort immigration status should keep so many people locked up long enough that leaving on their own feels like the only way to come home again someday.