Inside the Struggle to ‘Self-Deport’

0:00This is one thing, I'm David Rhine, and self deportation sounds easy, but under the Trump administration, it's been anything but. The Venezuelan government also wants people to come back. The US government wants asylum seekers to leave, but no one's actually created this system to make it possible. Stick around. When fall comes back around, there's a sense of a reset. And new pieces from Lululemon's fall job are an inspiration to push your goals and elevate your routines. Use your calendar fills, easy to layer styles, meet the demands of your day. And as you challenge yourself to try even more, versatile sets transition with you. The Lululemon fall lineup brings new levels of comfort and confidence, whether you're starting something fresh or starting something over. Check out the latest arrivals in store and on Lululemon.com now. All illegal entry will immediately be halted and we will begin the process of returning

1:00millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came. When President Donald Trump took office for the second time last year, he promised the largest deportation campaign in American history. Beeping up immigration enforcement was a major plank of his administration's agenda, and for the first year, it was very visible and occasionally violent. Two American citizens were shot and killed by federal agents in Minneapolis and January. And arrests are still ramping up. According to a source familiar with the data, immigration and customs enforcement took more than 51,000 people in the custody in August, that is a new high under the second Trump administration. Deportations have also shot up since Trump took over. ISIS averaged 26,000 deportations directly from detention per month since January 2025, and overall deportations from all federal agencies total around 985,000. But before he took office, Trump had promised to deport multiple millions of people.

2:02So in an effort to bump out the numbers, the Trump administration has urged undocumented immigrants to voluntarily return to their home countries. The Department of Homeland Security calls itself deportation. Because one way or another, you're getting on a plane home. But how you get there is up to you. The pitch is flyer cell phone so we don't have to. You can make it easy, like others who've made the right choice, by downloading the CBP home app and safely self-deporting. They received financial assistance up to $1,000, a free flight home, and they have the chance to come back to America legally. Or your trip home can be hard. They have since bumped up the financial incentive to $2,600 and claim without evidence that tens of thousands have taken them up on the offer. Obviously, not that many migrants want to self-deport. They came to this country because they wanted to live the American dream. But some of them do want to return home.

3:03For nearly a year, CNN's Mayava Bamboch has been trying to understand why migrants choose to voluntarily return what it looks like when they do. And so I've focused on one family, a mother from Venezuela, who wanted to self-deport after her partner, the father of her children, was detained by ICE and deported back to Venezuela. So her name is Ferniala, she's 29 years old. She is from the Western part of Venezuela, a Niamar archaibo. And she came a couple years ago, walking from Venezuela through Colombia and through the Daryen Gap all the way to the United States with her partner, the father of her children, and her two sons, Emma, Emmanuel, and Yone, Yonifer, who are now four and nine. They arrived in August 2024 in the United States. They applied on arrival through the CBP1 app to claim asylum.

4:08The CBP1 app, this was this app during the Biden administration, right where folks who show up at the border downloaded on their phone, and this is a way to get an appointment, right, to claim asylum. That's right, it's a way to officially register yourself saying, I've arrived in the United States, I'm claiming asylum. I was supposed to make things easier for families and also to really come in legal way and not try to hide. After a month in Texas, Ferniala, center partner Yolk Anide bought flights for themselves and their kids and headed to New York City where they moved in with his sister. Yolk Anide eventually got temporary work papers and started driving trucks from moving and deliveries. He made enough money where they could afford to rent an apartment of their own. At the same time, Ferniala is taking care of the kids. She's settling in and within a few months, she actually forced pregnant again. So she's about to have a child here in the US and that would make that child a US citizen,

5:12right? That's right. That would make that child a US citizen and that was, they both told me it wasn't an accident but a happy accident. They were starting a new life here. It was going well. And so when she told him the news, it was a happy news. Things were looking up for the couple but it's worth remembering just how drastically immigration policy had changed since they arrived in the US in 2024. After President Trump took office, his administration quickly revoked many Biden era immigration policies including the CPP-1 app and the asylum appointments made through the app were instantly evaporated. The Trump administration also moved to revoke the temporary protected status that had protected hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans from deportation. And at the same time, ICE arrests were happening all over the country, including at courthouses where immigration agents would detain people coming out of routine court check-ins. And in September 2025, Yon Kanide had won such appointment. I think it was their second appointment when they went to court here in New York at the

6:18federal building, 26 federal plaza, and leaving the court room. They were all together and he gets grabbed by ICE. And that's how I meet them because at the time I'm actually reporting on a story about ICE courthouse arrests. For a Nielis said agents ripped their son a manual out of his father's arms. Yon Kanide started crying, begging them not to be separated. But with this family desperately looking on, agents took him away. After being shuttled between ICE facilities for 10 days, he eventually settled in Jackson Paris Correctional Center in Louisiana where he would await a court hearing. And even though her children had just witnessed their father being arrested and she was all of a sudden a pregnant solo parent, Miami says for Nielis was doing her best to stay positive. I met her at a church to just met with a pro bono attorney. And she was really in the mood. That was my very first interview with her. She said it's just a matter of time I'm going to take care of him.

7:19We're going to get him out of detention. We'll be a family again. The first time I talked to her during the interview, he actually called from detention. And it was really interesting to see that they were still co-parenting. The kids were there and he asked what did you eat for lunch. No. And as the oldest son, are you helping your mom? That kind of thing. It didn't feel like a traumatic moment. It didn't feel like a crisis. It almost looked a little bit like it was just a little... Like a bump in the road. A bump in the road, exactly. So how did it become much more than just a bump in the road? The asylum process in detention is very swift. And then a few months, he lost his case and was deported. And that's when I heard about this. I reshotted her on WhatsApp and right away she said he's back in Venezuela.

8:24Miki Roir. I want to go. I want to leave. Well, right then in there she knew that she just wanted to be with him. Very clearly. And that was different from everything else I was hearing. I hear a lot of women whose partners was detained and deported and they tried to hang on for as long as they can, even if they no longer have the funds to sustain themselves. Often the husband has a breadwinner. But she right away decided, oh, I can't actually do that on my own. It's too much. My two sons are very young and rowdy. I have another one coming. I don't speak English. I don't have a job. How can I take care of those two boys while pregnant? What if something happens? What if I have to go to the hospital? There's no one to take care of the kids. It was no longer worth it for her. And also she told me it had always been his dream, his motivation. He was the engine. Without him, this American dream did not really make sense for her anymore.

9:26Hmm. So when she decides that it's not worth it to stay that she wants to go back, how did she go about that? How do you self-deport once you've made that decision? It's actually quite tricky. Some people walk back. Wow. Do you know what I mean? People came by boss by some people. But she's pregnant at that point. She's a few months pregnant already. She's starting to show. So she actually reaches out to the same pro bono attorney and tries to renounce her as an asylum claim. To go back by plane, you need travel documents. And that's where the issue really lies. A lot of immigrants get rid of their travel documents or never had travel documents. And Venezuela, for the most part, never have passports. It's very expensive. Just like anybody. If you don't have a passport, you're not going to be able to take an international flight. Exactly. And at the time, she was truly stuck. So it's December 2025.

10:27She wants to go, but she does not have travel documents to make it worse. There's no diplomatic relationship between the US and Venezuela at the time. US forces flew into Venezuela from the sea. 150 aircraft, drones, jets, the helicopters, visible over Caracas. A few weeks later, it's January 2026. And the US government captures Nicolas Maduro, the president of Venezuela. A multi-million dollar alleged narco terrorist on the US-S Iwojima in a $120 jogging suit. Right. This daring middle of the night raid and all of a sudden, the relationship between these two countries has totally changed. Trump said they want to run Venezuela. That's right. That's right. And it sounds great at first. Oh, they surely, these relationships now or something will happen. At first, it doesn't change anything for her on the ground. By little, by little, things start to evolve. The Venezuelan government creates a system whereby individuals like her can apply online for

11:33something we call a salvo conducto, a safe pass. It's a one-way ticket to return home. She has to show her birth certificate, prove that she's from Venezuela and so do her children, and they are able to apply. But that does not happen right away. It does not become available online until May. By then, her baby is born. Yeah, for some. But her baby is American. So she was very proactive about this. She got a birth certificate. She got in my passport really quickly. An American passport. An American passport. But imagine what happens at the airport. Now he's an American citizen trying to go into Venezuela. And you cannot apply for a tourist visa for Venezuela if you are minor. So once again, the visa that she's looking for her baby does not exist. It actually does not exist. There's not a system for her to bring her baby into the country. I mean, it's an extremely unique circumstance. It sounds like that she's in and that this baby is in, who's just like a few months old

12:36at this point, right? Absolutely. But it really shows you that the Venezuelan government also wants people to come back. The US government wants asylum seekers to leave, but no one's actually created this system to make it possible. You know, the immigration attorney who was working on her husband's case, I spoke to him a lot. And he was shocked as well that the system was so badly built. And he said it's interesting because they want asylum seekers to go home. But really, there's no way for them to go home without violence. The best, most effective way for them to go home is getting detained. And then you get a free flight. And because it's a government flight, you don't need papers for that. And since the US took Nicolás Maduro, some diplomatic relations were reestablished between the US and Venezuela. And so there is in Washington, DC a small unit representing the Venezuelan government. And there there's one email address that you can email if you're looking for a visa for your baby.

13:37If you email them, they will actually produce a multi entry visa as they did for Jefferson. And he was able to get a visa that way. And so Pregnallis finally has all those documents. And she's ready to go home. She's very excited to go home. And I decided to join them on part of this journey. All right, you got to take a break. Want me to come back? A panic about paperwork. Stick around. Whenever fall comes back around, it always feels like a fresh start. This year I've been layering in some styles from the new Louis Le Mans fall drop because the weather is shifting and I find I have to be ready for the entire day and not just one part of it. Louis Le Mans fall line has some really versatile transitional pieces.

14:38So I can just wake up, throw on a matching set, add a jacket or a fleece and head out knowing that I'll feel comfortable enough to go wherever the day takes me. Check out the new fall arrivals in store and online now at Louis Le Mans.com. So you've just described this crazy journey that Danielle sent her children have had to go through to get all the necessary documents to go back to Venezuela. The place we should say is not exactly in great straits. At this point, there has been an earthquake recently over the summer on top of all the other economic uncertainty that is happening there. But this is where she wants to go. And you said you joined her. How did that play out? Well, they flew from New York to Miami and then onward from Miami to Mara Kaibou. I flew all the way to Miami with them and dropped them off at the gate to their flight to Venezuela. Good morning. Good morning. One of the happy, happy days. So they were scheduled to fly on Tuesday evening and I found out that both boys were in school.

15:44And so I met them early in the morning for a school drop off of their very last day of school. Wow. So they were going to go to school that morning and fly out at night. That's right. And after school, we met. They made a friend's through to church who gave them some support, who lives in Brooklyn. They all met there. They had dinner with the final packing, got in a car and headed to JFK to hopefully successfully check in to our flight to Miami. So it's 6.35 pm we're arriving at terminal 8 at JFK airport. Yeah, I imagine when you get there, the nerves would kick in. It's just because of the paperwork nightmare that they've been through this past year. Oh yes. And you could really feel it in the air. Everyone was trying to act relaxed, but we were all very quiet, including myself. I have a force to go to church. So we headed to the check in desk and this American Airlines agent takes her papers and says,

16:54yes, but I want to see the passport. Is it? It's a quelling. And me, I tell you the other one, my friend. So the guy who's actually processing our documents actually speaks Spanish and this is in major progress. And so we show, no, no, this is a physical sheet. This type of conductors are on paper and he doesn't recognize them because so few people know what that is. Yeah, it's basically been created in the last six months or whatever. Exactly. There's a situation called, we need to check in. He calls the manager, the manager calls someone on the phone and it just takes forever and we all very nervous. Now it looks like we all set and we're going to be ready to check in the bags. Eventually, everything's fine. The manager says this is valid, but they have to punch it into their system and it all takes a very long time and we all just very tense.

17:57And you know what I mentioned about checking happens at TSA because you know you have to show your passport at TSA. That lady does not react very well when you tell her you don't have a passport. There's other thing. There's other thing. And finally, he doesn't speak English. So the TSA lady gets a little, she has to call the manager, the manager has to call his manager once again and so we're waiting here in line holding the line. Okay, we just went through security that was such an ordeal and we missing a bag. We finally make it out of security and the plane is halfway through boarding. Oh my gosh. One is our final boarding. No. And the kids are so excited to be in an airport and they want to run around. But we're trying to move along and make it and we did, but just before the plane was about to close. Just barely and now we are about to get onto the plane. When we successfully did the check in her mom called and I heard her say, you know,

19:08con glasses and yours. Thanks, thanks God. We made it through. So she was constantly in touch with them throughout, but you know who she was also in touch with was CBP home. Because DHS was checking in on her every so often they checked on her once in the car to the airport. They called her, they called her when we were at the checking gate and they texted her while she was in her seat just before the flight took off. Wow. And what are they, what are they checking in for just to make sure that she's going where she said she was going to go? Exactly. Where are you? Where are you? She has to say, I'm in the car heading to the airport. Where are you? I'm checking in right now. Wow. I mean, that's, I mean, that's wild. Like she's doing the thing that the government wants her to do, which is to leave the US basically, but they still are, you know, checking in with her constantly. And the fear is that if she doesn't answer an ice officer could come and pick her up. So there's this real big fear for immigrants to navigate in airport, even though she is

20:12going home, there are ice agents roaming throughout. And that was one of the fear that she had, especially transiting through Miami. What would happen in those few hours of layover in Miami? Because there are agents there as well. Okay, it's 13 past nine. And we're just about to take off. What's going on now for our panel make sure I have a minute. The baby is clearly awake and he's going on his very first flight. I'm just two rows ahead from yelling at the kids. When we start downing or see, I ask from yelling, how are you feeling? Tell me something. And she said, I'm just exhausted right now. And the boy is just very lucky because they had, you know, an ice in this. I knew one came to see me. Next to them. So I don't know. Both looking out the window. It's dark, but we were just saying, look out the window and take bye, New York City.

21:16See you later. It's 11.46 pm and we just touched down in Miami. So the layover was over 10 hours long. So we were all very tired. The kids were very tired as well. Thankfully, her friend in Brooklyn had booked her a little sleeping pod. It's that exists in Miami, which allows you to find a place to sleep without leaving security. So you don't have to sleep on the floor on one of those uncomfortable benches? Exactly. You don't have to sleep on the floor and you don't have to exit the airport, which was a danger point for her because then what would CBP home have said if she left the airport? It is Wednesday morning where the airport. See? Yeah, I can't. See? I can't. But 15 is where the flight was. So she was able to get a little bit of rest and in the morning we headed to her gate to

22:19catch the last flight to Venezuela. The oldest just has me where we're looking for. We actually have a little bit of walking to do. So we just got up. The whole time we got changed into the best outfits and we are going to look for something to eat before the flight. The baby is crying. The boys are happy. Emma is wearing a brand new Spider-Man sweatshirt. And so we navigated to the gate and we had a bit of time before the flight boarded. We are 28 minutes from boarding and the airline staff called everyone to come and check their ID papers before the flight. And you know what I noticed? I noticed that she had not received any calls from CBP home at all that morning and I asked her about it. She said they haven't called. And as I looked at the gate, I saw two ICE agents there.

23:23What are you going to do when you arrive? I'm going to send my mom. I did my last bit of interview with her on camera just before when we were sitting down. I talked to the oldest son. And you? Do you think you'll ever be back in the US? And he said, no, I don't think so. And he pointed at his little brother, the American son, Jefferson, who is five months old now, and said, maybe I'll go back with him. I asked him, are you happy? He said, I'm very happy to see my dad. I'm going to miss my friends at school. And I'm going to miss the internet. Oh boy. Because the internet speed is terrible back home. Right, right, right. Well, actually, when I asked her why she'd send her kids to school for just a few days,

24:23she said, you know, my kids need the discipline. She was really looking forward to the dad imposing a little bit of discipline. And she'd identify that her older son, your neighbor, maybe needed a dad around, to force him to be more social, to go out, to play, and to start being on this phone all the time, or on his tablet. And this is a very, I think, every parent will sort of... Yeah, sounds plain really cool. It's very relatable. Okay, it's time for them to go through the gates. And the day he seems like she's going to have them. That said, we're saying goodbye. And that's seconds in the United States. Finally, it was time to board. And I said goodbye to them. And I saw them get on the plane. And it didn't even look back. And I understand why she's very nervous. The two ICE agents that were behind the gate desk earlier, they actually posted themselves at the entrance of the walkway to the plane.

25:27I waited a little bit to make sure that the plane was leaving on time. And I saw the flight take off. And it was quite moving for me, actually, to see them finally make it, and finally succeed in what seemed impossible earlier this year. It's so funny because when I asked her, what are you looking forward to? She said, hugging my mom. Hugging my mom. And you can understand why she's had to do all this on her own without support. And she's also just a 29-year-old who just needs her mother sometimes. Understandably so. She's been so tough for her sons. She came close to crying a few times, but never let herself break down. She's someone who at this point just really needs to be able to put all that baggage down, all of that responsibility, and have someone take care of her for once.

26:32I mean, it strikes me that you said the American dream was more of his idea than hers. And yet she had been caught up in this whole Byzantine system of bureaucracy and immigration enforcement that just can swallow some people. It seems like just by the challenge of having to navigate it, especially when you have kids and a newborn. I think it sounded way easier when they first arrived. In fact, she had an older brother who had made the journey. So it seemed possible, but the tide turned. Americans attitude towards migrant change from under their feet. And so her calculus change. It was not worth it for her anymore. The decision she made to go home is an unusual one. Most asylum seekers, most immigrants do not want to go home. But even when you do want to go home, it's extremely difficult.

27:32And the system is not built for that. I followed her for 11 months. And that's how long it took for her to be able to return back to Venezuela. My Ava says Yolkeneade was waiting at the airport when Frenielis and the kids landed in Venezuela this week. He has already found work and Frenielis has dreams of one day opening a clothing shop in her village. You will soon be able to see video of this entire journey, including the family's reunion in Venezuela over on CNN.com. And in the meantime, we will link to my Ava's original story and our show notes. I highly recommend you take some time out to read it. We'll be back with another edition of one thing midterms tomorrow afternoon. I'll talk to you then. When fall comes back around, there's a sense of a reset. And new pieces from Lululemon's fall drop are an inspiration to push your goals and elevate your routines.

28:32As your calendar fills, easy to lay your styles meet the demands of your day. And as you challenge yourself to try even more, versatile sets transition with you. The Lululemon fall lineup brings new levels of comfort and confidence, whether you're starting something fresh or starting something over. Check out the latest arrivals in store and on Lululemon.com now. Alright, class settled down. Today's lesson is on the ARCO Rewards app. Try to stay with me. The fundamentals are simple. Earn at least five cents a gallon in rewards, then redeem them later for up to a dollar off every gallon. Now here's where it gets complicated. Oh, wait! It doesn't! It's as simple as downloading the ARCO Rewards app to get started. Class dismissed! Savings of up to $1.00 a gallon are being able with $20.00 rewards in your law of the account, at participating locations, terms and conditions apply.