OTTAWA — An LGBTQ+ aid organization says there was a massive spike in the number of Americans looking to leave the country immediately after U.S. President Donald Trump returned to the White House.
Swathi Sekhar, director of protection initiatives at Rainbow Railroad, said the group received nearly 1,200 inquiries from LGBTQ+ Americans on Nov. 6, 2024 alone, after getting only about 700 U.S.-based inquiries up to that point in 2024.
"This is really the most requests for help that we've received in a single day from any country," said Sekhar. "So that really says a lot. About half of those individuals who requested help were trans individuals, a mix of both trans men and trans women."
Rainbow Railroad says it has received just over 1,800 requests for help from the U.S. so far this year — an 1,100 per cent increase over the first two months of 2024.
Canadian immigration lawyers are also reporting a rising number of inquiries from American members of the LGBTQ+ community looking to move to Canada.
Immigration lawyer Adrienne Smith played a voice mail for The Canadian Press from an American abroad who said they were "extremely terrified" to go back home because of "what Donald Trump wants to do to trans people."
She said her small Toronto-based law firm has been "inundated" with inquiries from LGBTQ+ Americans looking to move to Canada since Trump's return.
"The overall sentiment that I'm hearing right now is just the kind of terror and speed that they feel like their rights are being stripped. You can hear the fear in people's voices when they're calling," Smith said.
Smith said she's received around five to 10 inquiries from LGBTQ+ Americans every day since Trump's inauguration.
Trump signed an executive order on the first day of his presidency saying the U.S. government will only recognize biological sexes. Earlier this month, Trump signed another order aimed at barring transgender athletes from competing in girl's and women's sports.
Rainbow Railroad helps LGBTQ+ people fleeing persecution in their home countries, but Sekhar said in the vast majority of cases, U.S. citizens don't meet the criteria to legally qualify as a refugee.
"They have to show that their government would be absolutely unwilling or unable to protect them in any part of the country. So, they would have to show that they've tried to potentially move from state to state, and were not able to find any safety by relocating internally first," Sekhar said.
She said that level of persecution is particularly difficult for American citizens to prove, as the U.S. is typically seen as a safe, democratic country. Rainbow Railroad has helped LGBTQ+ people fleeing persecution in other countries relocate to the U.S.
U.S. citizens are able to make asylum claims while physically in Canada, and those applications go through the same channels as requests from any other country.
"Asylum seekers must prove that they have a real fear of persecution or face serious harm, such as torture or cruel treatment, in their home country or where they usually live," said Renee Proctor, Immigration Minister Marc Miller's press secretary, in a media statement.
"They are expected to remain in Canada while they await the adjudication of their claim, and they cannot return to their country of alleged persecution, as doing so will withdraw their claim."
Proctor said the Canadian government is watching to see if Trump's orders affect Canadian citizens by, for example, restricting their cross-border travel. Canadian passports can have "X" as a gender identifier, while the U.S. now only recognizes male and female genders.
Sekhar said Rainbow Railroad has been directing those looking to flee the U.S. to other services that could help them, such as immigration lawyers.
Smith said that with Canada reducing the number of permanent residents it admits, and given the restrictions imposed by its points-based immigration system, many Americans would have a hard time moving north.
"A lot of what the government has targeted in the last year is priority occupations, which basically means people who have work experience in STEM or health care or transportation," Smith said.
"So for people to qualify from outside of Canada, I find in my experience, the pathways really depends on what your work experience is in."
Smith said the volume and content of the calls coming in have been taking an emotional toll on her staff.
"My front-line staff that are answering the phones and doing initial intake, it's been incredibly, incredibly difficult for them. A number of us are members of the LGBTQ community, so it hits us in a different way," she said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 26, 2025.
David Baxter, The Canadian Press