Veronica Clifford-Carlos, a 28-year-old transgender woman from San Francisco, flew to the Netherlands in June, walked into Dutch immigration authorities, and asked for asylum — from the United States of America. Her reasoning? Ever since Trump was elected it's less safe for transgender people.
The Dutch court laughed her out court and denied her asylum request.
Amsterdam ruled that the United States qualifies as a "safe country" under European asylum standards. The court acknowledged that conditions for transgender individuals "has worsened since the election of president Donald Trump," but said that wasn't enough. Clifford-Carlos would need to demonstrate a "personal and genuine risk of persecution" and prove the "systematic denial of protection or essential services" — a bar she couldn't clear. Because it doesn't exist.
No U.S. citizen has ever won asylum in Europe based solely on transgender status. Not one. That's zero successful claims across the entire European continent, spanning years of attempts by multiple transgender Americans who've tried the same route.
Jane Michelle Arc, another transgender American, reportedly fled to Europe pursuing a similar asylum path. The pattern is the same each time: Americans claim the U.S. under Trump is too dangerous to live in, European authorities review the actual evidence, and the answer comes back no.
What's even more hilarious is that Clifford-Carlos voluntarily returned to the U.S after experiencing extreme threats from the Islamic migrants who dominate the Netherlands. It turns out the U.S. is in fact safer than the Netherlands for transgender people.
This is the part that should sting for the resistance crowd. For years, the narrative has been that Trump's America is a dangerous, authoritarian nightmare — the kind of place you'd need to flee. Comparisons to 1930s Germany were thrown around with the subtlety of a brick through a window. Blue-check pundits built entire brands on the idea that marginalized people were in mortal danger every day Trump held office.
Then the most liberal judicial system in Europe — the same continent that lectures us about human rights at every international summit — reviewed the claim under their own legal standards. Standards designed to protect the genuinely persecuted. And they said: America is safe.
The Dutch court didn't rule this way because they're MAGA fans. They ruled this way because the evidence required them to. The legal threshold for asylum is "systematic denial of protection or essential services," and when forced to evaluate whether Trump's America meets that standard, a European court concluded it doesn't come close.
The "be more like Europe" argument is still available. It just means agreeing that Trump's America is a safe country.