A 20-year-old Honduran woman, Allison Bustillo-Chinchilla, will leave the United States after spending most of her life there. She arrived in North Carolina at just eight years old and built her life in the country, where she later graduated from Crest High School in Shelby. She wanted to be a nurse and earned a scholarship to attend Gardner-Webb University.
Bustillo-Chinchilla in America Since Childhood
Despite her long stay in the U.S., Bustillo-Chinchilla’s life took a sharp turn earlier this year. Immigration officials raided her family’s east Charlotte house in February. They reportedly arrested her along with her brother and mother, but later freed them so they could take care of their two younger siblings. However, officials moved Allison to Georgia’s Stewart Detention Center, where she spent six months in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
During her time in detention, Bustillo-Chinchilla faced difficult conditions. Her mother, Keily Chinchilla, explained that these conditions strongly influenced her daughter’s decision to withdraw her asylum request and accept voluntary removal. For Allison, leaving the U.S. was not the choice she wanted to make, but one she felt was the only option left.
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Bustillo-Chinchilla Chooses Voluntary Removal
Bustillo-Chinchilla informed an immigration judge that she would not pursue her case further. Instead, she consented to leave voluntarily, which means her record will not bear an official deportation order. Experts explain that this path, though painful, often represents the least damaging option when detainees have limited chances of winning asylum or other forms of legal status.
Her decision highlights the reality many immigrants face under strict immigration enforcement. Even people who have lived in the U.S. for most of their lives, and who have no criminal record, must choose between long legal battles and leaving the only country they have ever truly known.
Family members say the experience has been especially hard. Speaking to WFAE, her mother said: “I feel disappointed. I feel tired, and it’s very difficult because I won’t be able to see her leave the country.”
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has emphasized programs like the CBP Home app, which allows migrants to self-deport. Through this program, migrants can arrange their return flights with travel costs covered and receive a $1,000 stipend. DHS says this method can help avoid long detention stays and also preserve a chance to apply for legal re-entry in the future.
Bustillo-Chinchilla will stay in ICE detention until authorities allow her to be removed voluntarily to Honduras.
A Reflection of Wider Immigration Policies
Bustillo-Chinchilla’s story is part of a much bigger picture. Her case reflects the human impact of ongoing U.S. immigration policies. Under recent enforcement pushes, officials have described the effort as one of the largest mass deportations in the nation’s history.
For young people like Bustillo-Chinchilla, who spent most of their lives in the United States, these policies create difficult realities. Many of them grew up in American schools, built their dreams in American communities, and only have distant memories of the countries they were born in. Changes in Washington, however, imply that authorities may arrest them, force them to endure months of uncertainty, and eventually send them back to a strange environment.
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Her case has drawn attention from both local and national outlets, with many pointing to the contrast between her life as a student working toward a scholarship and her sudden shift into the world of detention centers and immigration courts.
Bustillo-Chinchilla’s experience serves as a striking example of how immigration laws can affect entire families. While her relatives were released to continue caring for her younger siblings, Allison was left to face the system alone. After six months in a Georgia detention facility, she has now accepted voluntary departure, preparing to leave the United States — the place she has called home for most of her life.