"The new American Dream is leaving America."

 

“The new American Dream is leaving America.”

Virtually all the media attention on immigration is focused on the US detention and deportation (self-deportation or forced) of low-wage, undocumented aliens, mostly people of color. We are now witnessing the Trump administration’s efforts to deny US citizenship to children born here of undocumented parents or short-term visitors, an issue now before the Supreme Court that must reinterpret the 14th Amendment from what has been accepted practice for over a century and a half if xenophobic Trump is to prevail. “Diversity, equity and inclusion” have replaced racism as unacceptable national values, and even speaking a foreign language in public, particularly Spanish, can be an invitation for “your papers please” check and possible detention/deportation.

For a nation of immigrants – sorry, Donald, white folks are not “heritage Americans” – a fact which has combined cultural and foreign experience for centuries to invent, modernize, build, grow and internationalize everything from complex technology, high-output agricultural products, financial systems and trade exchanges as well as terrible but effective weapons of war, we are slaughtering massive flocks of golden-egg-laying geese. Look at some of our biggest companies… from Google to Tesla – and feast on foreign born US citizens who have founded some of our biggest companies or mega-tech entities, like Microsoft, being led by foreign born CEOs. Immigrants, are job creators here like no other. Those who have traveled to study in the United States from foreign shores… and stayed… have been among the most productive Americans ever. But they’re not coming so much anymore. “This sudden drop — a decline of 30-40 percent in new students from abroad, and 15 percent in international student enrollment in this academic year — could end up costing the US economy $7 billion.” Holly Baxter, writing for December 28th The Independent.

As swearing-in ceremonies for American citizen wannabes, having passed all required tests and screenings, are being cancelled, as immigration courts (legally required to consider asylum claims) are backlogged years (the Trump administration went on a firing spree of immigration judges), and as student visas come with a de facto Trump-pledge – the Bill of Rights does not apply to you – making the visa application process beyond onerous – the triple benefits of having those international students (paying tuition, the best and the brightest often staying and future leaders of foreign nations having a solid connection with the US) vaporize.

Indeed, the Trump administration is more interested in promoting worthless “woke” values, bringing the finest universities in the country to heel, and cutting the very funding for research that absolutely made America great than in using our educational excellence to keep America great. China is accelerating past us in educational, technical and economic dominance… building a military that does not fear the United States and new trade agreements to squeeze global dependence on the US out of its threat-making influence capability.

In addition to deterring bright people from immigrating to the US, we are beginning to drive out American citizens with money, education and choice to emigrate to other nations around the world. Even those with modest savings. Holly Baxter explains: “During the Obama administration and the first four years under Trump, [Cuban American Alyssa] Bolaños worked in immigration. Again, this is not unusual for somebody from her background: Latinos make up more than 50% of Border Patrol agents in the United States, as well as almost a quarter of ICE agents. The reasons for this seem to be because the job is highly paid and stable. Immigration officers are also needed in the states where Latinos are most likely to live, near the southern border in states like New Mexico, California and Texas. And in a country where most immigrants and refugees come from Spanish-speaking countries, being able to speak the language is a distinct advantage.

Bolaños was comfortable in her immigration job for years. She felt that she was mainly helping out families who were trying to improve their lives and navigate a difficult system. But then, during the first Trump administration, things started to change… ‘I left the field because of the policies he was putting in place,’ she says. How she saw those policies playing out on the ground began to affect both her mental and physical health. ‘My whole family’s immigrants,’ she adds. ‘So I really went into it wanting to help people like our family.” In the end, she walked away feeling ‘defeated and just broken down.’ She still offers her services freelance to families who need it, but she knew by the end of the first four years of Trump that she never wanted to work in an official capacity for the United States again.

“Things quietened down a little when Biden was president. But then came 2024, and a second Trump term… ‘This January came around and very quickly things got even worse than the first time,’ she says, ‘and that was kind of our sign of: OK, no, we can't do this again. We can't live in this country. And we left.’… On social media, content about leaving the US has exploded. Since 2021, content produced by influencers who have left America and are now seeking to make money remotely by documenting their everyday lives on Tiktok and Instagram has become increasingly popular. Even on Reddit, where usernames are anonymous and content is image-free, the community of people expressing an interest in leaving America has grown exponentially in the past four years. The subreddit r/AmerExit — a place specifically for Americans to share tips about the logistics of moving abroad — has 171,000 weekly visitors and over 1,000 posts per week.

“‘I moved from Tucson to Copenhagen a month ago! Love my hometown, but god damn public transit and access to affordable healthcare is so nice,’ writes one recent contributor. ‘I love love love not owning a car, and not feeling deprived because I don't,’ writes another, who says he moved to Scotland… A quick scroll through the posts shows that almost everyone in the planning stages of leaving the US is a graduate or a skilled worker in roles that remain in demand inside the country: an architect looking to move to the Netherlands, a commercial truck driver heading to Canada, an IT consultant hoping to move to Denmark, a software engineer and speech-language pathologist hoping to move their young family to ‘France, Netherlands, Germany, Australia, or Japan’.

“Uruguay — the current location of Alyssa Bolaños’ family — is a popular choice. One poster, who describes himself as a cybersecurity expert, echoes the reasons given by most others for their departure plans: ‘I am a father of 3 and me [and] my wife are considering moving abroad given the current climate in the US. We no longer feel safe - daily school shootings, daily kidnappings by federal agencies, etc.’ In just two, matter-of-fact sentences, it’s a damning indictment of the America Trump promised to make great again.” Democracy matters. Democracy plus safety really matter… and with upward mobility in this nation relegated to the history books, where the country is run for the benefit of the mega-rich (many of whom are also leaving), well, leaving becomes vastly more attractive.

I’m Peter Dekom, and the only winners in this trend are those who have figured out how leave and start a new life… and our enemies.