Mientras su familia se autodeporta, este adolescente deja atrás a sus amigos, su iglesia y sus sueños educativos

Bruno, a 16-year-old student, is leaving behind friends, his church, and his educational aspirations as his family embarks on a voluntary departure from the United States. Upon arriving in the US in 2022 to seek a better life, Bruno and his family felt increasingly alarmed by the Trump administration's aggressive immigration crackdown.

After consulting with an immigration lawyer, his parents decided to voluntarily leave the country to give Bruno and his 14-year-old sister the best chance to return to the US one day. "Our dream is for our children to complete their education and go to university," said Bruno's mother, Lourdes, in Portuguese. Bruno will say goodbye to his friends, the church he serves, and his passion for filmmaking.

However, his family's gamble has the biggest impact on his education. Immigrants nationwide face the dilemma of staying and risking detention by ICE, or returning to their home countries and facing an uncertain future. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says over a million immigrants have opted for voluntary departure since President Donald Trump took office.

For Bruno's family, the decision is a setback in their educational journey. The pandemic, relocation to a new country, and learning English have already disrupted Bruno's education from elementary to high school. Now, returning to Brazil could derail his education and invalidate his courses in both high school and university. It also means Bruno won't be able to choose between attending seminary or university to study film or biology, nor will he be able to go shopping for a prom suit or receive his high school diploma and associate degree in June.

Many of the people Bruno has known in the US are "very important to me... and I have more opportunities here than in Brazil." The parents hope that the voluntary departure will help their children's future. In early this year, Bruno's parents received a deportation notice for an upcoming meeting. The family was awaiting a judge's ruling on their case, but meanwhile, they remained undocumented.

Some friends of the family received similar letters and were deported. ICE arrest and deportation numbers increased in New Jersey during the summer. They worried that being deported would make it harder for their children to get US student visas later. Bruno is an active member of the Saint James Catholic Church in Newark, New Jersey.

A deportation order also comes with a ban on re-entry, a period during which a person cannot return to the country, though the specifics of that ban may vary. That's why they sought voluntary departure instead of waiting for ICE to decide their case. Though, Priscilla Monico Marin, executive director of the New Jersey Consortium for Immigrant Children, warned that voluntary departure does not guarantee future benefits and carries risks.

"One thing is being deported and falling into the shadows, but another very different thing is being given the benefit of voluntary departure and not taking advantage of it," said Monico Marin. Initially, the family was supposed to leave in May, but Lourdes requested more time for Bruno to finish his penultimate year. The federal government gave them until August 3 to depart, with plane tickets expected on July 20.

However, the tickets never arrived, and now the family has set the departure date to October, with or without Bruno. "If we stayed here without authorization, my husband and I could be arrested, which would complicate things and make our children even sadder," said Lourdes. Meanwhile, Bruno works at the gym, helps at the church, and works with his dad while his friends return to school.

He also enjoys walking around the Ironbound neighborhood in Newark, but must carry his passport with him in case ICE is nearby. "My mom sometimes doesn't trust me to walk alone," said Bruno. What Bruno loses by leaving the US Bruno typically took his afternoons at East Side High School taking classes and making documentaries with friends through a school club where he led the video production team.

In the evenings, he took classes at Essex County College. He was on track to graduate and receive an associate degree in June 2027. "I miss everyone there," said Bruno. In Brazil, the academic year normally runs from February to December, so arriving in October would place him at the end of the Brazilian school year. Bruno says he would likely have to repeat his penultimate year from scratch.