Joytu Chowdhury, a 24-year-old Bangladeshi student in Illinois who was arrested by the ICE after his student visa was revoked, said he chose to self-deport from the US because of the inhumane conditions of the ICE detention centers. Initially, he said he was determined to fight the case against him and to get reunited with his wife, a US citizen, but then he said he reached a point where he felt completely broken and overwhelmed. Now he is back in Bangladesh though a fundraiser has been put up to bring him back to the US.
"At first, I was determined to fight my case and hold on to the life I had built. I didn't want to give up. But over time, being in that environment took a serious toll on me mentally and emotionally," Chowdhury told Newsweek. "I reached a point where I felt completely broken—exhausted, overwhelmed and uncertain about everything. Eventually, I gave up and chose to self-deport, not because I wanted to but because I felt like I had no other choice left. In many ways, it felt like that's what the system pushes people toward—to wear them down until they can't keep fighting anymore."
