Transgender American Who Fled U.S. Returns From European Asylum Center, Calls Escape 'Dumbest Thing'

A transgender American software engineer, Jane-Michelle Arc, fled the United States after Trump’s 2024 reelection to seek asylum in the Netherlands and lived in the Ter Apel refugee camp, where she said anti-trans hostility and safety concerns made life there worse; after failing to win asylum, she returned to California and then back to the U.S., publicly calling leaving “the dumbest thing I’ve ever done” while still criticizing conditions in Europe and noting the high cost and noise of life in America, alongside ongoing transphobia.