The first time Donald Trump won the presidential election, a quasi-joke emerged of liberals (predominantly white and well-off ones) moving to Canada due to dissatisfaction with American politics. As we enter the second Trump era, these conversations have reappeared at higher rates, and have been largely met with dismissal and eyerolls.
The Trump administration’s drastic actions since Jan. 20 have sought to shape America into a right-wing, Christian, ethnonationalist nation. This has been done through the targeting of queer identity, a massive escalation of deportations and a roll back of DEI initiatives. The American right wing has rejected the diversity that defines many people’s ideas of America in perilous pursuit of reverting America to traditionalist values.
This is not the country it once claimed to be. As sad as that fact is, we must rethink our perception of American exceptionalism and understand that the threats posed by the American government reflect the threats posed by other despotic nations around the world.
Just recently, Ranjani Srinivasan — an international student from India at Columbia University — fled to Canada immediately after learning that ICE was seeking to arrest her. This decision was not made lightly; it is not easy to abandon your educational institution, support networks and loved ones. But it was essential for her safety. This was not a knee-jerk or irrational reaction. There has been an entire dissolution of safety for immigrants through the deployment of hostile, armed, unidentified officers seeking to disrupt, kidnap and disappear persons.
Nonetheless, there has been considerable criticism of those who move. They are perceived as privileged, overexaggerating Trump’s threats and abandoning those in marginalized communities who need allies and support more than ever.
These criticisms are valid and should be heard and understood by those planning to leave the country. But that doesn’t mean it is immoral to leave, especially if you are under immediate threat by staying. Queer people, women, immigrants, political activists and many more are all groups under threat by the current administration.
The U.S. has become more dangerous. The potential to be labeled anti-American — and subsequently disappeared — has created a culture of fear and hiding.
It is no longer radical to advocate that people relocate for the sake of their own safety. People have fled authoritarian, oppressive and dangerous rule for much of human history. It was not immoral to do so then, and it is not immoral to do so now.
On March 27, Jason Stanley — one of America’s leading scholars on fascism and author of ““How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them” — announced he was leaving the country due to developing political conditions. Two other Yale professors, Timothy Snyder and Marci Shore, are doing the same.
I understand the difficulty posed by this. We are not all famous professors at Yale who can relocate to another top university if we wish. But it is a solution — hopefully a temporary one — that would provide a level of safety and security for those who have very valid fears right now.
I cannot overstate how serious the threat posed by Donald Trump is. A few days ago, Rumeysa Ozturk was kidnapped by ICE officials wearing plain clothing and masks. And the threat is here too. Pomona College recently made clear its intentions to “fully cooperate” with a congressional committee seeking information about students who had been disciplined due to involvement in pro-Palestine protests since April.
This threat is not limited to immigrants. Transgender people have been targeted by a new policy at the State Department that issues passports with gender markers exclusively based on biological sex, creating dangers and risks for transgender travelers.
The United States was recently added to the Civicus Monitor Watchlist due to threats to civic liberties under the Trump administration. It is not an over exaggeration to compare the state of the current U.S. to those of other authoritarian countries, during which people have fled for their own safety.
It is time we stop treating the conversation of leaving the country as an empty threat of coastal elite liberals, and seriously understand the idea that many may be forced to leave for safety.
The U.S. was initially founded by people fleeing their country for a better life. This did facilitate horrific imperialism, genocide of Indigenous people and the enslavement of Africans, horrible aspects of our country’s founding that should bear shame. Still, it is important that we remember political refugeeism as a fundamental aspect of American identity. We are not unique to those forces that compel people to move, and this is proven in our history.
I know many people who have left their home country for a better life. Much of what I love about America is that people can search for a better life. But among those people, I know some who have chosen to leave America now and seek safety elsewhere. People have long moved and changed locations for their own benefit and protection. The current moment is no different and Americans are no exception.
While it should be scrutinized when a well-off liberal declares their intent to move to Canada, this does not mean that emigration should be discouraged. When the state comes for you, you can — and maybe should — leave the state.
Alex Benach PO ’28 is from Washington, DC, and plans on moving in with Ellen DeGeneres in the UK.
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