Earlier this month, The Washington Post published a story claiming that illegal immigrants were giving up their bogus asylum claims and opting to depart the U.S. in exponentially higher numbers under the Trump administration. They're finding out that living in ICE detention facilities while they wait for a court to deny their asylum claim isn't any fun, and they're choosing to return home on their own.
Now, it's The Denver Post's opportunity to give us a similar sob story.
With no options left, a Venezuelan family living in Colorado walks into ICE custody, seeking to go back home https://t.co/LMjrYLMdw1
— The Denver Post (@denverpost) May 25, 2026
Seth Klamann writes with a poetic flourish:
Cecilia stood outside a federal immigration field office in Centennial, chewing her lip and weighing the few choices left to her. Behind her, piled in a car, was what remained of her family’s life in the United States.
It was early May, and a few feet away, her three sons took turns sticking their shoes into old prairie dog holes in the dirt, the youngest’s Crocs breaking through cobwebs. As the boys looked from the ground to their mother, she explained that if she returned to the office the next day, immigration agents had promised to detain the family and arrange their return to Venezuela.
The Centennial office building was similar to one into which her husband and the boys’ father had disappeared late last year. But unlike Ronald, who’d been arrested at what he thought was a routine appointment, Cecilia arrived that day hoping that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement would take them away.
She and her three children — ages 12, 9 and 6 — had walked for three months to get to the United States in 2024, crossing notorious expanses of jungle and mountains for the prospect of a stable future and a reunion with Ronald, who’d come earlier that year. But like other families split by the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, they now found themselves struggling to make ends meet in a single-parent household, with no regular paycheck and few options.
Recommended
Oh, and Cecilia is seven months pregnant.
Sent her kids to school just for meals. Says it all.
— AZSuburbs 🏜️🌵 (@noprezzie2012) May 25, 2026
Go home.
I voted for this.
— Yuri Bezmenov's Ghost (@Ne_pas_couvrir) May 25, 2026
This is what Biden’s legacy is. He sold these families a bill of goods, encouraging them to risk their lives and spend all of their money to come here knowing full well there was no legal pathway to support it. This is Biden’s legacy and hopefully his eternal shame.
— LFG America 🇺🇸 (@LHF1970) May 25, 2026
Blame Harris and Biden for luring them here and allowing our school housing healthcare and welfare systems to be abused.
— Butterdog (@Butters09016449) May 25, 2026
They want you to cry for her. Instead, feel rage toward the power elites that allowed her to be here at all, grifting off you.
— Cats without Borders (@russ62960450) May 25, 2026
The CBP One app makes it easy to self deport! They didn’t even need to walk into a detention center. They could have gotten flights & money to go home through the app.
— AR (@adbr_1) May 25, 2026
You should publicize how easy it is for illegals to self deport so no one else makes this mistake!
Self-deportation is the way to fix this. Enforcement is crucial but all the other incentives have to be removed.
— War for the West (@War4theWest) May 25, 2026
Now if we could get a court case going to override SCOTUS mandating public schools educate illegal alien children, that would be huge.
This is what I voted for. Venezuela is safe now, no reason for asylum.
— G2 Precision, LLC (@G2Precision) May 25, 2026
I'd say it looks like the system is working. You guys sure wasted a lot of words to essentially tell us that.
— Thomas Paine jr. (@ThomasPainejr1) May 25, 2026
I mean Trump fixed their country and now they are getting money from the oil and everything so they should be able to go back and live a happy life. And so should we now that they're leaving. It's a win-win for all of us. Thank you Trump!
— Bama Chan (@HeardChanda) May 25, 2026
You leftists at the Denver Post realize that we have ZERO sympathy for these people, right?
— Populo Iratus (@astronomy89) May 25, 2026
Like, none.
We *want* them out, and we do not want it to be pleasant for them. We want it to be painfully memorable.
WE are the ones that took away their other options.
On purpose.
Sad story yet she was depending on the government to fund her life here. Kids to public school, free meals there, etc. Now that free (taxpayer) money is tougher, she is going home to Venezuela. This is the game Democrats play with foreign lives.
— Red Rover (@redrovera1) May 25, 2026
I wish them a happy and successful life in Venezuela
— 🌲Nathan (@nstecker_) May 25, 2026
"Venezuelan family returns to Venezuela." What a scoop.
***