Canada has seen an influx of Americans applying for refugee status since Donald Trump was elected president in November, according to official data.

More Americans applied for refugee status in Canada in the first half of 2025 than in all of 2024, according Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board.

While their share of total refugee claims—245 out of about 55,000—remains small, Canada has already received more claims from Americans than it did in any full year since 2019.

In comparison, last year, 204 Americans filed refugee claims in Canada with the United States as their country of alleged persecution. 

As Reuters noted, refugee claims from the US also rose during the first Trump administration. 

The data does not specify the reasons behind the claims, but eight lawyers informed Reuters they are receiving more inquiries from trans Americans wanting to leave the US as the Trump administration scales back transgender rights.

To gain asylum, potential refugees must convince Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board that nowhere in the US is safe for them.

A US Department of Homeland Security spokesperson mentioned that people claiming refugee status in Canada would open up space in the US for individuals ‘facing actual fear and persecution.’

Hannah Kreager, 22, is among the Americans who have left the US for Canada. She is seeking asylum, asserting she is not safe in Trump’s America as a transgender person.

Eight lawyers said they are hearing from more trans Americans wanting to leave the US as the Trump administration rolls back transgender rights.

Canadian immigration officials have emphasized that claims from Americans are challenging, as they must demonstrate a ‘real fear of persecution or risk serious harm, such as torture or cruel treatment, in their home country or usual place of residence.’

Daily Mail previously reported the case of an Arizona trans woman who applied for asylum in Canada over Trump’s policies.

Hannah Kreager, 22, ‘fled’ her home in the Grand Canyon State for the Canadian city of Calgary.

‘I have fled seeking safety, security, and the freedom to continue living my life, and to access/take my medications as prescribed,’ Kreager wrote on her GoFundMe page.

Her legal filing cited two executive orders by the Republican president, including one stating the federal government only recognizes the male and female genders, according to The Globe and Mail.

As a result, US passports and identity cards with an X gender marker are no longer being issued.

‘Attitudes in the United States have grown increasingly intolerant toward trans people by those who have been influenced and emboldened by a president and administration that takes basic rights away from trans people on the basis of nothing more than their identity,’ Kreager said.

‘The danger to trans individuals in the United States is very high, while the threat my community poses is exceedingly low.’

Katie Berg, her husband Ted, and five of their children are currently in the middle of seeking asylum in Canada after fleeing Illinois on March 3. The parents worry for their transgender and gender-fluid children, who are 13 and 12 respectively 

Cars wait in line to enter the United States at a border crossing at the Canada-US border in Blackpool, Quebec, Canada, on February 2, 2025

Kreager’s attorney Yameena Ansari claims she and other Canadian immigration lawyers have been flooded with inquiries from transgender Americans since Trump took power about how they can move to their country.

‘This case is about safety,’ her attorney Yameena Ansari told the Canadian news site.

‘It’s about whether Canada will recognize the threat Hannah faces in the U.S.’

Other Americans have also applied for refugee status north of the US border.

An Illinois family with transgender children has made a similar request of the Canadian government.

Kaitlyn and Ted Berg, parents to a 13-year-old child who is transgender, and 12-year-old who identifies as gender fluid, pulled their five kids from school one day after Trump’s inauguration and began planning their exit.

‘They’re kids, but they’re also people too,’ Katie told the DailyMail.com in March.

‘We’re just leaving to make a better life for our children… If my children can grow up safe, that’s all that matters.

Trump and the Supreme Court have rolled back trans rights, restricting who can access gender-affirming care, who can serve in the military, who can use what bathroom, and who can play in some sports. 

Meanwhile, as more Americans look for a future in Canada, several liberal celebrities such as Rosie O’Donnell and Ellen DeGeneres also left the US following Trump’s election, citing the president as the reason.