Deportation or exclusion proceedings have the purpose of allowing an illegal immigrant to be reinstated to his country of origin by way of a judicial process. This process also affords the illegal immigrant the option to choose voluntary deportation process. The option may be exercised after the termination of the deportation proceedings.
Under the law, an immigration judge may grant the defendant 60 days to 6 months of time to avail of voluntary deportation. This is usually granted after the termination of the deportation proceeding. The long period allowed by law for voluntary deportation was intended to convince the defendant, who has a weak case for asylum or was given an order of suspension, for them to withdraw their applications and voluntarily return to their country of origin. In order to be granted with said period, the defendant must first waive his right to appeal. After the grant of the 6 months period and if the defendant opted to voluntarily remove himself from the country, the latter will then be granted with a 119 day period wherein he must leave the country voluntarily.
Reliefs can also be afforded to the defendant such as adjustment of status, cancellation of removal, asylum, waivers from removal or other various combinations of the aforementioned reliefs. There are cases wherein the defendant is not allowed by law to avail of said reliefs or although he may be eligible to avail of the same, the circumstances of the case prevents him from doing so.
After the proceedings, the immigration judge will then issue a removal order. The period of 6 months for the removal will then accrue. If the defendant failed to depart from the country within such period, the order of removal shall stand. The effect of failure to abide to the order shall make the defendant ineligible to avail of adjustment remedies as may be provided by law. In addition, the defendant will be prevented from returning to the country within a ten year period.
If the defendant complied with the order of removal, he will still suffer the consequence of the bar to return to the country within a ten year period. This is because, the latter is an accessory penalty which attaches to the order of removal. This will apply even if the defendant opted to voluntarily remove himself from the country. The ten year period may be lifted by way of proving to the immigration court that the defendant has complied with certain conditions as may be prescribed by law.