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A wave of Americans, gripped by Trump Derangement Syndrome, have crossed the Atlantic in search of refuge, only to land in the grim reality of a Dutch asylum camp notorious for its squalor.
These self-exiled individuals, many identifying as transgender or parents of transgender children, claim persecution under the current U.S. administration's policies.
Dutch immigration authorities reported that 76 U.S. citizens claimed asylum in the Netherlands last year, a sharp rise from nine in 2024.
Many applicants are housed in the "queer block" of the overcrowded Ter Apel camp in northern Netherlands.
Conditions there have drawn complaints: residents describe prison-like security with guards at gates, tiny dorm-style rooms covered in graffiti, and walls allegedly smeared with bodily fluids.
Asylum seekers receive a small allowance for food, use communal kitchens, and may leave the camp but must attend daily bed checks.
Applicants cite hostility and discrimination in their home states, including physical assaults, verbal attacks, job losses, and denial of service.
Elliot Hefty, 37, a transgender man from Kentucky, recounted an attack.
"I was walking down the street for lunch, and I was pushed to the ground so hard that I went sliding across the pavement. This man was yelling slurs at me and screaming, and I was left alone bleeding in the middle of the street," Hefty told Dail Mail.
He also alleged removal from a client-facing Medicaid role after Trump's inauguration, claiming "brown and visibly queer folks" are restricted to administrative positions, and denial of service at shops where owners said his "tranny money" was no good.
The Daily Mail could not independently verify his allegations.
Veronica Clifford Carlos, 28, an actor and visual artist from San Francisco, claimes they fled the U.S. after daily death threats.
Jane Michelle Arc, 47, from San Diego, described weekly assaults, like, "getting punched or pushed or shoved every single week" while walking streets, leading to hospitalization before her April move.
Ashe Wilde, 40, from Massachusetts, a state she called one of the most liberal, reported being labeled a "pedo and a groomer" despite community efforts to preserve queer identities.
Her application followed a State Department policy requiring passports to reflect biological sex at birth.
The Dutch Ministry of Asylum and Migration has deemed alleged mistreatment of LGBTQ individuals in the U.S. insufficient grounds for refugee status.
The U.S. is classified as a safe country of origin, leading to automatic rejections in cases like that of Gayle Carter-Stewart, who moved her 14-year-old transgender child Nox from Montana; their claim was denied despite Nox's suicidal threats.
No Americans arriving during Trump's second term have reportedly received asylum.
Experts note success requires evidence of government detention over gender identity, and Dutch officials appear reluctant to provoke the U.S. by deeming it unsafe.
Trump's policies include an executive order declaring only two genders exist, bans on transgender women in female sports, restrictions on youth gender-affirming care, and efforts to bar transgender military service.
These measures protect women's spaces, fairness in athletics, and parental rights, with polls showing majority backing for some measures.
Detractors view them as eroding civil rights and fueling societal hostility.
In the end, the irony cuts deep: Americans fleeing perceived tyranny in the land of the free now languish in a foreign camp's filth, their pleas dismissed by even the most progressive European gatekeepers.
The experiment in ideological exodus has met a sobering wall of reality.
