The Globe and Mail quoted multiple Canadian lawyers on Tuesday who said they were “overwhelmed” by the number of calls from alarmed transgender Americans seeking a way to claim political asylum in Canada. Some calls are also from parents whose children are being subjected to medical procedures in response to alleged gender dysmorphia, which the Trump administration has referred to as “child sexual mutilation” and vowed to eradicate.
One transgender activist accused President Trump of launching an “existential assault” on transgender individuals and condemned the leftist government of unelected Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney for not updating travel advisories to warn transgender Canadians to stay out of America.
The report follows weeks of similar interviews with transgender individuals who oppose Trump’s policies protecting young girls in school sports from being forced to compete against men and his directives to mandate American passports and other legal documents recognize only “male” and “female” as existing genders, excluding non-binary, “two-spirit,” and other LGBTQQIAAP2S+ identities. In Canada, these individuals are allowed to identify their gender on government documents as “X;” according to the Globe and Mail, 3,600 people have chosen to use “X” on their passports.
“We are receiving numerous inquiries from U.S. nationals, including many trans individuals, who are no longer feeling safe at home,” immigration lawyer Warda Shazadi Meighen told the Globe and Mail. “International refugee protection is a last-resort option, granted only when a person’s home country is no longer safe.”
The attorney noted that Canadian law “certainly includes trans identity” as a potential reason for persecution that could trigger refugee protection. “If that fear stems from U.S. state action or inaction, the state is considered the agent of persecution, and the claimant isn’t required to show they first sought protection from the authorities.”
Another attorney, Yameena Ansari, told the newspaper that requiring individuals to identify by their sex on government documents was “a form of violence.” Ansari reportedly described her law practice as “overwhelmed” by Americans seeking information on how to move to Canada due to LGBTQQIAAP2S+ identity.
“Some immigration lawyers have been hosting online seminars for LGBTQ communities on navigating Canadian immigration to address the volume of inquiries,” the Globe and Mail noted. “One last month, attended by 62 people, was dominated by questions about asylum claims from transgender Americans.”
The Canadian government maintains a liberal policy regarding allowing foreigners identifying as LGBTQQIAAP2S+ to move to the country.
“Canada has a proud history of providing protection to and helping resettle those most in need. That includes those in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and additional sexually and gender diverse (LGBTQI+) community,” the Canadian government explains on its immigration website, noting Ottawa has special programs in place, in conjunction with LGBTQQIAAP2S+ advocacy groups, to identify those persecuted and help fast-track resettling in the country.
Rainbow Railroad, one of those organizations, reported in February a dramatic increase in requests from Americans seeking to escape the Trump administration’s policies on the grounds that they amount to persecution. Speaking to the CBC, an official with the group said it had documented a 1100-percent increase in U.S.-based requests for resettling in 2025 so far. On Election Day in November, 1,200 Americans reportedly reached out to Rainbow Railroad, “the most requests we’ve received in a single day from any country,” director of protection initiatives Swathi Sekhar said.
Rainbow Railroad has been helping LGBTQQIAAP2S+ individuals from around the world escape countries that persecute them for nearly two decades, traditionally focusing on those attempting to escape countries where regimes punish suspected homosexuality by death. The group’s website features a map highlighting some of the most dangerous places in the world for LGBTQQIAAP2S+ people in the world, featuring much of the Middle East, Russia, Southeast Asia, and Africa. The United States is not highlighted on the map.
In 2019, during his first term as president, Trump launched a global initiative to pressure such countries to decriminalize homosexuality, led by then-Ambassador to Germany and current Special Presidential Envoy for Special Missions of United States Richard Grenell.
Rainbow Railroad is advocating for Canada to suspend a policy Canada and America have shared since 2004 known as the Safe Third Country Agreement. That policy mandates that asylum seekers must apply for asylum at the first country to which they arrive — meaning, if they reach America first, they cannot then request asylum in Canada.
“LGBTQIA+ people seeking asylum are being put under extreme scrutiny, and it’s hindering their right to safety and protection. Particularly, trans women seeking asylum will experience acute danger if they are detained by immigration enforcement,” Rainbow Road denounced in a joint letter with other advocacy groups in February. “For many queer and trans refugees, resettlement to a third country is their only option to escape violence and persecution.”
The suspension of the Safe Third Country Agreement would not affect Americans seeking to apply for asylum in Canada but, rather, individuals fleeing a third country who arrive in America first. It remains unclear if Canadian law would allow for political asylum claims from Americans, though some have already made the move.
In an interview with the CBC published on Saturday, Juliana Antonimus, a transgender American, explained the decision to move to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Antonimus, originally from Arkansas, fled to Halifax from New York fearing persecution.
“If I was feeling that way in what was once my safe space because the rules had changed, I recognized that I need to do the thing that I had done once which was find a new safe space,” Antonimus told the CBC.
The CBC did not clarify if Antonimus was formally seeking political asylum in Canada.
Sekhar of Rainbow Road told the CBC in February that, to have a claim, asylum seekers “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.”
The influx of American requests for information on seeking asylum in Canada followed a dramatic change in immigration policy last year by the ruling Liberal Party. Former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who stepped down after a decade in power in January, had announced in October that his government would “significantly reduce the number of immigrants coming to Canada for the next two years” after dramatically expanding immigration opportunities for most of his tenure. It remains unclear at press time if the policy would affect Americans or whether successor Mark Carney will choose to keep the new policy in place.
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