The number of American citizens applying for refugee status in Canada has surged since Donald Trump returned to office, with more claims filed in the first half of 2025 than in the whole of 2024, according to data from Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board.
Between January and June this year, 245 applications were made by US citizens, compared with 204 referrals in all of last year. This marks the highest number of American refugee claims since 2019. However, the figure remains a small fraction of the more than 55,000 total claims lodged in the same period, with Indian nationals accounting for nearly a fifth.
Canada has historically accepted few US refugee applicants, who must convince the board that no part of the United States offers them safety. While the data does not specify reasons for the spike, lawyers and advocates point to growing concerns among some Americans over Trump administration policies, including rollbacks on LGBTQ+ rights and attacks on academic institutions.
Eight lawyers told Reuters they are hearing from more transgender Americans seeking to leave the US. In March, Kaitlyn and Ted Berg of Illinois told CBC they sought asylum after the president’s claim that there are only two genders; one of their older children is transgender and another identifies as gender fluid. Hannah Kreager, a transgender woman from Arizona, also applied for asylum in Canada in June, citing a need for “safety, security and the freedom to continue to live my life.”
The trend echoes the first Trump administration, when claims from US citizens rose more than sixfold to 2,550 in 2017. Canada and the US later expanded a bilateral agreement requiring asylum seekers to apply in the first safe country they enter.
