Sure, but legitimately feeling unsafe is a condition that applies to a wide swath of the population in the present circumstances. Virtually every non-citizen resident has reason to be fearful, whether documented or not, including all the foreign students studying at American universities and those working under H1B visas, especially if non-white. Another category is prominent people being specifically targeted. Just ask James Comey, Letitia James, Elissa Slotkin, or Mark Kelly how safe they feel.
In fact, almost any non-citizen has reason to feel unsafe. Here’s a story about an innocent Canadian woman who tried to enter the US from Mexico and was held in detention for 11 days in conditions that pretty much gave her lasting PTSD. She had done absolutely nothing wrong.
And @Dr.Drake raised a good point. Although it doesn’t have much to do with Trump, except for the likelihood that he’ll make the situation worse, millions of Americans suffer from what might be called health care insecurity, the health care analog to food insecurity. Some have both. And even a comfortably employed person may be subject to health care insecurity, because their health insurance is only as good as their continued employment or their ability to pay for an individual plan.
But many—though not all—non-citizens also have ready access to at least one foreign country they can “immigrate” to. So not really relevant to this thread.
That said, the people in the US as asylees or refugees (except for the white supremacists from South Africa—who I really do hope at least try to go back to Africa, though I am less concerned with whether they actually make it all the way) are in a really rough spot.
I think what most people are expressing a desire to run away from is the day to day insanity of modern life. With all due respect to @wolfpup , I don’t really care about whatever anecdotes they (he? she?) links to support their opinion on how America has gone insane. There’s always something terrible or unjust happening somewhere. Half the shit people are outraged about hasn’t even happened yet. So all day long people have to suffer from a constant noise telling them the world is on fire and whatever they are doing isn’t the right way to survive it (unless they buy this or vote for that).
I could go on at risk of diverting the thread. The point is, I think most people just want to know what they need to be doing day to day to live their life. Modern America has made it difficult to find those answers, making people feel constantly uncertain and anxious and frankly pretty isolated. But unless you have a support network at the country you want to go to, I don’t think it will be any better. You’ll just be dealing with different insanity with customers, a language, and people you may not understand.
IOW, I think everyone in their mind thinks they will flee stereotypical America to stereotypical whatever country and spend their days surfing in Australia, running a vineyard in Italy, growing olives in Greece, or strolling along the Seine in Paris wearing berets while Edith Piaf songs play in the background.
Yeah well…what can I say. Welcome to being Jewish.
Unless they choose to turn off their TV & news feeds. The forces of political evil and shittified commerce want everyone agitated and outraged. Just say “No.”
You can opt out. Easier as a retiree than a worker. Easier as somebody single or with like-minded family members than e.g. someone married to a rage-a-holic.
But most people can opt out of the imposed stress far more easily than they can emigrate, even if they’re fortunate enough to already have a residency right in another country. Hell, it’s easier and less disruptive to divorce your rage-a-holic spouse than move to e.g. Canada.
And for the vast majority of Americans lacking any residency rights elsewhere, including me, pushing the “off” button is insanely easier than trying to get a “green card” to some other country.
While I’m sure that’s true for a lot of the people making idle conversation, I don’t know how true that is across the board. When I first moved abroad, at almost thirty, I was very ignorant, and I learned slowly. There were things that were culture-specific that I had assumed were universal (such as grocery shopping at supermarkets), and things I had never thought to consider, such as the fact that spending 8+ hours a day in a second language makes you really, really, really tired. Also that fluency in a language comes a ways ahead of being able to make a joke in that language.
Nevertheless, I learned, and what I can say now is that the things you are worried about aren’t really the things that matter. I still miss home: I went back for a couple of days earlier this month, and it’s amazing how much easier it is to just BE where everything (including plantlife and background smells) are just familiar. There’s a tiny bit of my brain that is constantly working for the fact that where I am isn’t home. I imagine that’s the same for people who have moved within the US from one region to a rather different one, like the South to New England or Hawai’i to the Midwest.
Another factor of emigrating is that you’re forever torn between places / cultures. Everywhere you are, there’s something you miss about the other place. True assimilation is for emigrants’ children.
Of course there is, but it’s a question of how much and how often. Since January of this year, atrocities have been happening in America pretty much every fucking day. Is this not a legitimate reason for millions of people to be fearful?
The idea of just shutting out the news is just about as valuable as the myth of ostriches burying their head in the sand when threatened. I really did ignore US news for a couple of months after the 2024 election, but then when Trump threatened Canada with economic sanctions it became necessarily relevant. Now that things have got totally crazy I just have to watch the dumpster fire with the same fascination as watching the metaphorically analogous train wreck.
Came across a New Yorker article (not paywalled mirror) on leaving the USA for the Netherlands, I think it may be relevant to this thread: https://archive.is/JrMHl
One thing that caught my attention was the formulation “survivor’s guilt about having left”. I hope it is not that bad yet for the majority.
The Canadian government, as is their right, places lots of limits on ordinary Americans with no prior connection to Canada just moving there to live and work. As such, very few of us 300 million potential refugees will be let in. Only a (very) limited number will succeed."
My paternal grandmother was born in Quebec, so from what I’ve read I might be able to finagle my way in (though the criterion seems to be descent from a Canadian citizen, and she went from being a British subject to a US citizen). However, no matter how hard I’ve tried I haven’t been able to come up with her birth certificate; just a baptismal record, which I doubt would be sufficient.
Otto, give it a shot. All British subjects born in Canada automatically became Canadian citizens in 1947, so your grandmother, even is she was resident in the US at that time, would likely qualify to be a Canadian. It is extremely hard to lose Canadian citizenship if you were born in Canada, and the US government cannot strip one of Canadian citizenship just by saying so. In other words, only the Canadian government can strip one of Canadian citizenship.
Plus, as I recall from the experience of a friend of mine, Quebec only issued baptismal certificates (i.e. not birth certificates) until sometime in the 1960s or 1970s. The same happened to him: born in Quebec with only a baptismal certificate. But using that certificate, he was, according to the Canadian government, a Canadian citizen, and had no problem getting a Canadian passport.
That’s the case now, but rules were different back when Canadian citizenship was introduced. I think that a Canadian woman who married a citizen from à foreign country might have lost Canadian citizenship. But then there have been lawsuits and retroactive changes to the law on this point.
But I agree - a baptismal certificate from Quebec will likely be accepted as proof of birth in Canada.
