What is "self-deportation"

n. The act of deporting or exiling oneself.

Self-deportation is an approach to dealing with illegal migrants in the United States that involves the creation of legal structures which will make life in the US so difficult as to encourage illegal migrants to voluntarily return to their home countries, rather than organized efforts of law enforcement to locate and deport them. The 2012 Republican Party platform included self-deporation as a response to illegal immigration to the United States. The platform also calls for robust border enforcement, opposition to “any forms of amnesty,” enforcement of the use of E-Verify by employers for employment eligibility verification, and other “humane procedures to encourage migrants to return home voluntarily.”