The American Diaspora

Yes, it's happening, and mainstream media is finally taking notice

Some long-overdue mainstream media reporting on the American Diaspora that's been gaining momentum has finally emerged in The Economist’s Why Europe is a magnet for more Americans. It's validating to see what I've been warning people I'm witnessing and personally participated in: a non-trivial exodus of Americans fleeing their homeland.

Sadly, in spite of the placement of many signs like these, hate did, in fact, find a home in the United States

The United States government doesn’t officially track emmigration statistics, but the U.S. State Department estimated as of 2020 that as many as 10 million American citizens live outside of the U.S. The Economist reports:

More Americans are moving to Europe lately, and many are fleers rather than seekers. The statistics are messy, but in some countries the trend is clear. In 2013-22 the number of Americans in the Netherlands increased from about 15,500 to 24,000; in Portugal it tripled to almost 10,000; and in Spain it rose from about 20,000 to nearly 34,000. In other places, such as France, Germany and the Nordic countries, the number grew moderately or held steady. Britain thinks the number of resident Americans rose from 137,000 in 2013 to 166,000 in 2021 (the latest estimate).

While The Economist makes no specific mention of the numbers fleeing due to the fascist scapegoating of transgender and queer folx (and only mentions some of the European countries Americans are emigrating to… more on that in a minute), I can assure you from my vantage point within the LGBTQ+ immigrant community in Portugal, it is… a lot. The membership numbers in American- and queer-specific expat groups on Facebook alone indicate there are likely many thousands of us in Portugal (and the article seems to back up my estimation). Having joined several French immigration Facebook groups when still narrowing down where to go, I know the same is true for that country, as well. And then there are the tens of thousands of Americans moving to Mexico, Canada, Australia, and many countries throughout South America and Asia.

The Economist cites several reasons that were also of importance to us when we decided we could no longer tolerate living in the U.S. For us, in addition to the escalating anti-trans rhetoric, laws, and violence, there was the racism, the loss of bodily autonomy, the violence (especially violence committed by Police State-sanctioned gangs), the political corruption and incompetence, the shredded social contract / lack of safety nets, the shrinking economic opportunity, and the void that exists where the “liberty and justice for all” should be.

I have, in fact, expressed the same sentiments, nearly verbatim, as several of those quoted in the piece—just swap out "racism" for "transphobia" and one place name for another:

• “I didn’t know what would happen to me in [Portugal], but I knew what would happen to me in [Georgia].”

• "Though there is some [transphobia] in Portugal, they say, they do not worry about violence."

Many of America's best and brightest have already escaped and are enjoying true freedom, liberty, and opportunity far, far away from the morally bankrupt and depraved country of our birth. Many, many more are contemplating it.

Our immigration attorney said to us the first day we met in person in his office, “I am very sorry for what the people of your country are going through, but… business has never been better for me!” He told us he has hundreds of families who have already engaged his services and many people are just waiting to see what happens in November 2024 to tell him whether to submit their immigration paperwork.

While several news outlets have been reporting on the record numbers of passport applications swamping the U.S. State Department, causing a massive processing backlog which can make obtaining a passport take 13 weeks or longer (more than twice the usual time), they consistently attribute the rise to American’s eagerness to travel after pandemic lock downs. They recognize that many of these applications are from first-time applicants, but they completely fail to see the bigger picture—that many of those passports will end up in the same hand as a one-way airplane ticket.

Also worth mentioning is the unknown number of foreign-born people in the U.S. that are now leaving. For example, I spoke with a Jewish Dutch Holocaust survivor who came to the U.S. when she was a young girl and was moving back to the Netherlands. “I've seen this before,” she said of the rising signs of fascism, “and I'm not sticking around to see it again.”

I met a Greek man in Savannah, Georgia who told me how he visited Florida decades ago on vacation and fell in love, both with America and an American woman. But both of those loves eventually came to an end, and his breakup with America was proving to be the most difficult as he struggled to cobble together the financial resources necessary to return to Greece. “I had no idea how hard it would be to survive here,” he said. “This is not the land of opportunity I thought it was.”

The arrogance and short-sightedness of the U.S. government neglecting to track people emigrating away and only focusing on how many foreigners immigrate to the U.S. is irresponsible. It guarantees that those entrusted with the functioning of society won’t recognize a critical source of mounting brain drain and labor loss problems until it's far too late. Not that they should attempt to forcibly stop those seeking to emigrate, of course, but the sensible thing to do would be to figure out what needs to be done differently to keep people from feeling the need to do so in the first place. Alas, sensibility and governing too rarely go together.

How long will it take—how many positions left unfilled, how many cries of “No one wants to work anymore,” how much societal collapse will have to take place—before a critical mass of the Americans left finally realize “Maybe no one with any self-respect wanted to toil under the system America’s capitalist enslavers built anymore”?

I’ve had conversations with maybe two dozen or so strangers, acquaintances, and friends in which I indulged their curiosity about how to leave the U.S., how to decide where to move to, what all does it take to emigrate, what's it like where we are, etc. These conversations have often taken place with customer service reps—with our former internet service provider, our cell phone carrier, our electric company, and our bank—when I've called in to wrap up our business relationships. I could hear the anxiety in one of the reps’ voices: “My son is gay and we're Black in Atlanta. I'm scared for him.”

Several of these call center employees have told me they have experienced a noticeable uptick in calls similar to mine—people who have left the country entirely calling to close an account rather than update with a new service address.

I am always happy to answer their questions and always offer my email address so they can contact me with more questions. My heart breaks for those who want to escape, but lack the means.

Especially troubling is the plight of low-income disabled Americans who receive SSI benefits and are trapped by senseless and inhumane rules that are, arguably, violating their human rights. Wealthier disabled Americans receiving SSDI benefits can live abroad and retain their income, but if you are a poor disabled person with SSI benefits (usually because you became disabled as a child or young adult and so don't have much of a work history, if any), you are trapped in the very same country where you are most vulnerable to being unable to afford to simply exist. Why wouldn't the U.S. allow disabled people to take their poverty income and move to where housing is more affordable if they want to? (By the way, several disabled people have asked me about this, so I'll just tell you that my health status was never one of the things the Portuguese government cared to ask me about in the immigration process, so no, disability does not preclude you from moving here. I know a few disabled Americans who live here, and I am one myself. This may not be the case in other countries, of course.)

I am also happy to try to answer your questions. I'm leaving the comments open on this post (and hoping I don't end up regretting it… trolls will be blocked without warning). I also have a Discord server I've considered opening up a channel on for this purpose, so let me know if that interests you.

If you are transgender / gender nonconforming in the U.S. and want help navigating the immigration process to certain European countries, please check out TRANSport. (And if you have resources to help this organization formed to assist trans people seeking safety abroad, please contact them/donate.)

Another resource for those looking to escape, that is not trans specific, is Not Alien.

A word of advice: if you have been contemplating emigrating and have the ability and resources to do so, please don’t wait. Not only will you find it easier to do when less pressured by active societal upheaval, it will make efforts to help relocate vulnerable American refugees easier without you in the way. Besides, we could use your help over here getting organized for that very real possibility.

Speaking of refugees, there’s something very important that a lot of Americans don’t realize. You may think you can just apply for asylum in another country if the time comes, but as of right now, you can’t. There's been a UN treaty in place since 1951 that prohibits American citizens from being granted asylum in other countries. It was unthinkable at the time that citizens in “the land of the free” could ever have justification to seek asylum in another country. People have tried, but very few asylum cases brought by a U.S. citizen, if any, have ever been approved. That could change, of course, depending on who takes the White House in 2025, but such things take time, and you better believe there will be legal cases involved.

I know some of you are still struggling with disbelief. Or maybe you think you’re crazy for considering leaving. You keep thinking things aren't that bad or that they will get better, because contemplating that they might actually get much worse is scary. I get it. Some of our brains are just wired to shield us from the anxiety and fear that comes with really seeing our harsh realities, but that can end up with more people in mass graves than necessary. You are not crazy. Remember, it’s not the strongest who survive, it’s the most adaptable.

“How will I know when it's time to leave?” As popular YouTuber Beau of the Fifth Column said a few months ago when his viewers kept asking him this question, “When you start asking yourself that question, it's time.”

Be safe. Adapt. Survive.

In love and solidarity,

JD in Portugal