{"id":285406,"date":"2026-01-15T08:18:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T08:18:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/285406\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T08:18:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T08:18:07","slug":"number-of-us-citizens-seeking-asylum-in-ireland-rises-fourfold-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/285406\/","title":{"rendered":"Number of US citizens seeking asylum in Ireland rises fourfold \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The number of US<\/a> citizens seeking asylum<\/a> in Ireland increased more than fourfold last year compared to 2024, new figures from the Department of Justice show.<\/p>\n

Ninety-four US citizens sought asylum in Ireland in 2025, up from 22 the year before.<\/p>\n

The number of asylum seekers from the US has continually increased since 2022 when just 13 people applied. There were 18 applicants in 2023. <\/p>\n

When asked if any of the applicants have been granted asylum status, the Department of Justice<\/a> said it does not provide detailed statistics on grant and refusal rates by nationality. <\/p>\n

Outside of the asylum system, some 9,600 US citizens moved to Ireland in the 12 months to April 2025, which is nearly double the 4,900 who immigrated here in the previous 12 months, according to data from the Central Statistics Office.<\/p>\n

According to 2025 polling from US research firm Gallup, a fifth of Americans said they would like to leave the US. This was higher among women aged 15 to 44, with 40 per cent saying they would move abroad permanently if they had the opportunity. <\/p>\n

The figure is four times the 10 per cent who shared this desire in 2014. Politics is playing a role, the researchers said, as there was a 25-point gap in the desire to migrate between Americans who approve and those who disapprove of the country\u2019s leadership.<\/p>\n

\"KenzieKenzie Bray, from Iowa, who moved to Ireland on a visa and lives in D\u00fan Laoghaire <\/p>\n

Due to the political environment in the US, Kenzie Bray moved from there to Ireland on a visa, which is entirely separate to the asylum system.<\/p>\n

Ms Bray (30s), originally from Iowa, was living and working as a make-up artist in Arizona, but she made D\u00fan Laoghaire, in south Co Dublin, her home last October.<\/p>\n

She began researching the possibility of a move abroad after Donald Trump was re-elected president of the US. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as the election happened, I said I was getting the hell out of here,\u201d she said. Ireland stood out to her, as she had fallen \u201cin love\u201d with the country after visiting numerous times.<\/p>\n

Ms Bray moved with her three dogs and a cat after an almost year-long process to secure her visa and find somewhere to live. <\/p>\n

Her family are supporters of Mr Trump, but she felt her rights were \u201cthreatened\u201d by the Trump administration, she said, adding that she is bisexual and has ADHD. <\/p>\n

The \u201ccivil unrest\u201d in America is \u201chorrible\u201d, she said, adding that she became \u201ctired of it and scared\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe political climate there is bad, it\u2019s all gaslighting and denying,\u201d she said. In Ireland, she feels \u201csane again\u201d. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Increase in US citizens applying for asylum here since Trump\u2019s second termOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

She will not return to the US while the current administration is in office, she said, adding: \u201cI\u2019m boycotting the United States with the rest of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wife and husband Katelyn and Ryan McLoughlin moved from North Carolina to Raheny, Dublin, in October of last year. <\/p>\n

Mr McLoughlin realised a few years ago that he could get an Irish passport on account of his father being born in Belfast. Ms McLoughlin (30s) became entitled to a spouse visa.<\/p>\n

The couple looked into moving to Ireland as a potential back-up plan or something they might do one day in the undefined future. <\/p>\n

However, Ms McLoughlin said, the \u201cpolitical situation at home\u201d over the past year nudged them to make the move, with the intention that it would be permanent.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe took that leap and we\u2019ve been really glad that we did,\u201d she said, adding that the change has been \u201cbig\u201d but \u201cpositive\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration was a \u201chuge\u201d reason for their emigration, said Ms McLoughlin, who works in clinical research.<\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially in North Carolina, it\u2019s a red state [Republican] … and it\u2019s looking like that for the foreseeable future because of how the [electoral] maps are drawn,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s just antithetical to what we want in our future, for our lives,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Some of her loved ones who are transgender or immigrants to the US \u201cmay feel, especially over the past few weeks, that they\u2019re in danger\u201d, said Ms McLoughlin. She remains \u201cvery concerned\u201d for her family back home.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur family that are in some of these targeted groups, I worry a lot about them,\u201d she said, adding that her worries have been compounded by the recent killing of US citizen Renee Good by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) officials in Minneapolis last week. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Trump has a new justification for the shooting of Renee Good: disrespectOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cI have family in that area, and that\u2019s something that scares me a lot; the idea that somebody in my family could be in traffic and find themselves coming to harm is very, very concerning. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a little bit of, not to be dramatic, but survivor\u2019s guilt of like, I\u2019m here now and I\u2019m out of that situation, but the people I love aren\u2019t … I just consider us to be very lucky,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The number of US citizens seeking asylum in Ireland increased more than fourfold last year compared to 2024,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":285407,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[9,10,1412,13169,356,18,13,14,6,70180,19,56,17,11,12,15,16,5,7,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-285406","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-central-statistics-office","11":"tag-department-of-justice","12":"tag-donald-trump","13":"tag-eire","14":"tag-featured-news","15":"tag-featurednews","16":"tag-headlines","17":"tag-ice-us-immigration-and-customs-enforcement","18":"tag-ie","19":"tag-immigration","20":"tag-ireland","21":"tag-latest-news","22":"tag-latestnews","23":"tag-main-news","24":"tag-mainnews","25":"tag-news","26":"tag-top-stories","27":"tag-topstories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115898135593095951","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=285406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/285407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}