Under the program, "Scheduled Departure," irregular immigrants who had been ordered to leave the country but did not have criminal records could avoid arrest and detention by going during certain hours to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency offices in Charlotte, N.C.; Chicago; Phoenix; San Diego; and Santa Ana, Calif., near Los Angeles. The immigration agency would then set a departure date within 90 days and help make arrangements for the immigrants to return home — in some cases paying for transportation — and requiring them to check in with a case officer until they left.
In the three weeks that the federal immigration agency tested the program, only eight people came forward out of the 457,000 "fugitive aliens." About 30,000 in or near the cities in the program, which was promoted largely in the Spanish-language news media.
ICE blames NGOs for counseling immigrants not to take the option.
But advocates for immigrants said there had been no widespread effort to undermine the program, though many had called it futile because immigrants would be reluctant to leave behind family and jobs and could usually leave the country on their own when they wanted to.
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