Jane-Michelle Arc, from California, was one of approximately 76 Americans that sought asylum in the Netherlands last year. She flew to Schiphol airport and was instructed by customs officers to report to the immigration service IND at Ter Apel, which houses roughly 2,000 asylum seekers.
Her reason for leaving the US was the change in policy enacted by the Trump administration, which in an executive order denounced “ideologues who deny the biological reality of sex”, and ended the federal recognition of any gender identity besides male and female, rolling back anti-discrimination policies and protections on employment, housing and healthcare protections for trans people.
But the conditions at Ter Apel, which Arc described as “dire”, were life-threatening, she said, citing anti-trans hostility from other people at the camp.
Dutch group LGBT Asylum Support said in mid-2025 it was assisting around 20 US trans individuals with pending asylum claims.
Another US asylum seeker, Lisa Gayle Carter-Stewart, who fled Montana with her 14-year old transgender daughter said their application was automatically rejected because America is considered a safe country, according to the Guardian.
The IND dismissed her daughter’s statement that they would commit suicide if forced to return to the US, Carter-Stewart said.
automatically rejected because America is considered a safe country, according to the Guardian.
IND trusts a news corporation over Rainbowmap‽This infrustrates me. I have no idea what to think.
Iceland did the same💩.The guardian is the source of the information about the customs policy. Dutch customs is not getting their policy from a newspaper.
This is a retelling of a guardian article. A journalist working for the guardian wrote this story aftering interviewing the woman involved, hence the guardian listed as a source several times.
Many countries define the us as a safe country under law. Its a big issue.
Im fairly certain every single western country will deny asylum seekers from the US based on this same reasoning.
That’s what comes of trusting the Dutch.
