{"id":348946,"date":"2025-08-16T10:46:19","date_gmt":"2025-08-16T10:46:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/348946\/"},"modified":"2025-08-16T10:46:19","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T10:46:19","slug":"trumps-refugees-settle-in-spain-were-not-going-back-to-the-united-states-international","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/348946\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s \u2018refugees\u2019 settle in Spain: \u2018We\u2019re not going back to the United States\u2019 | International"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spain has become a refuge for Americans escaping Donald Trump\u2019s authoritarian drift<\/a>. Families who, without looking back, have landed with the intention of staying. For now, there aren\u2019t too many. This isn\u2019t an exodus or a migration crisis. But the Americans EL PA\u00cdS spoke with see themselves, in part, as political refugees. In a journey reversing the one undertaken four centuries ago by the first settlers, they are crossing the Atlantic to feel safer and freer, far from a country where the rule of law is fading in the face of an unbridled leader.<\/p>\n

Benjamin Gorman: \u201cMy country has become a source of shame\u201d<\/p>\n

This feeling that more and more citizens want to leave the U.S. is shared by Benjamin Gorman, a 48-year-old writer and high school teacher who has settled with his partner and his son (and their three dogs and two cats) in an apartment in Barcelona\u2019s Gothic Quarter. \u201cWhen Trump won, I knew we had to escape. Family and friends thought we were exaggerating. Now they call me for advice. History teaches us that the first to leave seem crazy, but the last ones don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gorman, who grew up in Independence, Oregon, and has lived in Cincinnati, Ohio, feels like a \u201cpolitical refugee.\u201d A racial justice activist, his criticism of history teaching in the United States earned him, he says, \u201cdeath threats from Trump supporters,\u201d the same threats his wife, Chrys, who is queer and neurodivergent, suffered. Frankie, their child, is transgender and non-binary<\/a>. \u201cIf we\u2019d waited any longer to leave, their passport would have been invalidated,\u201d he says, referring to Trump\u2019s order not to issue documents with the gender \u201cx\u201d<\/a> or a gender different from the one assigned at birth.<\/p>\n

They have settled in Spain for two reasons: Gorman speaks Spanish and they were able to apply for a digital nomad visa<\/a>. In Barcelona, a city the professor was already familiar with, they feel \u201cwelcome.\u201d Gorman understands, however, that expats like them can help increase housing prices, but he and his family, he says, want to be \u201cpositive members\u201d of the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy country has become a source of shame. Things are getting ugly faster than I expected. In Spain, I can speak without fear of censorship,\u201d he says. \u201cThe most dangerous thing,\u201d he adds, \u201cis the attack on immigrants,\u201d and how the Republican president\u2019s decisions are generating \u201ca great deal of suffering\u201d and \u201cfear\u201d in certain sectors of the population. He believes refugee status for Americans will eventually become a reality.<\/p>\n

The trip to Spain is, for now, one-way. \u201cAs long as Trump is president, I\u2019m not going back,\u201d says Gorman, who believes the effects will last beyond his second term. \u201cI won\u2019t feel safe in the U.S. for many years. Trump is a symptom of a larger cancer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"EstadounidensesFred Guerrier in Madrid’s Retiro Park on August 8.INMA FLORESFred Guerrier: \u201cI was fed up. I have mental space in Madrid\u201d<\/p>\n

Fred Guerrier was \u201cfed up\u201d with everything around him revolving around Trump. \u201cI think it\u2019s going to be a long time until all the things he\u2019s done are undone. I probably won\u2019t be alive when things get back to normal,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

The 43-year-old arrived in New York from Haiti with his family at the age of seven. He and some friends run a production company that produces campaigns and ads for politicians and NGOs, but he decided to move to Madrid, arriving just a week ago, to clear his mind of politics: \u201cIf I\u2019m going to spend my work hours dealing with politics, I want it completely out of my real life.\u201d <\/p>\n

He lived in the Spanish capital 14 years ago, working for one year as an English teacher. He\u2019s returned to stay \u201clong term\u201d and believes that outside the U.S. he\u2019ll no longer be so stressed by the situation and will have \u201ctime and mental space to write and develop projects.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s actions have directly affected his company. It\u2019s the first time in six years that it has had to promote itself to secure contracts. They know \u201ca lot of people in politics\u201d and have always \u201cjumped from one job to another\u201d through contacts. The reasons include funding cuts to social organizations, which can no longer afford to pay for their videos, and the general political confusion within the Democratic orbit<\/a>. \u201cPeople are still trying to figure out what happened in the last election, and which direction to go next,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

With Trump\u2019s return to the White House, he felt \u201cpowerless\u201d because there were \u201cso many things happening at once.\u201d \u201cPerhaps that\u2019s the strength of his team,\u201d he says, \u201cdoing so many things at once that it becomes overwhelming for political rivals.\u201d \u201cHe\u2019s burning down the entire building,\u201d adds the filmmaker. \u201cOnly the few rich people at the top, the politicians, and the tech billionaires<\/a> will be saved.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ChrisChris Kelly, on the terrace of her apartment in Barcelona.Gianluca BattistaChris Kelly: \u201cI noticed a lot of racism\u201d<\/p>\n

Chris Kelly, a Californian with blond hair and blue eyes, was encouraged to take the step by her 17-year-old mixed-race daughter. Both had taken to the streets during the Black Lives Matter movement<\/a> (sparked by the death of George Floyd at the hands of the police), and the teenager began to feel uncomfortable about her skin color. \u201cI noticed a lot of racism. She told me that if Trump won again, she wouldn\u2019t want to be there anymore. I asked her if she was sure because she had to quit her dance classes and only had one year left to finish high school. She didn\u2019t care,\u201d Kelly explains on the terrace of an elegant caf\u00e9 that has established a very American trend: tipping 10% or 20%.<\/p>\n

Kelly and her daughter have been living in a \u201cperfect apartment\u201d in the Eixample district (at more than \u20ac2,000 a month in rent) for four months. They chose Spain because it was one of the countries, along with Portugal, that \u201callowed for visas to be obtained most quickly.\u201d They chose Barcelona because they located an American school in Gr\u00e0cia. They are here on a student visa, which allows Kelly to take Spanish classes. Kelly has left her \u201clittle house\u201d in San Diego, California, and sold her car. She has only kept \u201c10 boxes of memories,\u201d which are in the hands of a friend, a sign that this is no vacation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not going back to the U.S. The country is deeply divided, and that\u2019s not going to be fixed with a new president. The damage Trump has done will last at least a generation,\u201d says Kelly, who denounces the progressive loss of rights and freedoms under a president who \u201cfeels above the law.\u201d Kelly has been horrified by the deployment of National Guard troops in Los Angeles<\/a> and the raids against undocumented immigrants. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy daughter could be mistaken for a foreigner and subjected to a process that no longer offers guarantees. She\u2019s safe here, she rides public transportation alone, and she\u2019s not afraid of a school shooting,\u201d says Kelly, who has received support from her family. \u201cEveryone says, \u2018Can you take me with you?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"EntrevistaDeborah Harkness at the Roman Amphitheater in M\u00e1laga on August 9.Garc\u00eda-Santos (El Pa\u00eds)Deborah Harkness: \u201cCruelty has become normal in the US\u201d<\/p>\n

Deborah Harkness, 56, first set foot in Spain in 1993. She traveled to Seville to study the country\u2019s language, literature, and history. It was \u201can awakening,\u201d says this Boston-born American. \u201cI felt something ancient and alive in the streets, in the voices, in the light… Life here doesn\u2019t ask you to act. It asks you to be present.\u201d <\/p>\n

After decades of dreaming of moving to Andalusia, she took the plunge this year after Trump came to power. \u201cI couldn\u2019t continue surviving in a system that values profit more than people,\u201d she explains, noting that the president is \u201calmost a religious figure to his followers<\/a>.\u201d It\u2019s reminiscent of \u201cthe early stages of Franco\u2019s regime and Mussolini\u2019s fascism,\u201d she says: \u201cConsolidating power, erasing the opposition, and making everything look legal.\u201d<\/p>\n

A human resources worker in the tech industry, Harkness lived in San Jose, California, where housing prices kept rising: she paid $3,200 a month for a one-bedroom apartment. Food costs and health insurance kept going up too… \u201cI felt trapped, always one crisis away from losing everything. At the same time, I saw rights being curtailed, surveillance increasing<\/a>, and cruelty becoming normalized.\u201d \u201cWhite privilege determined who received real care and who didn\u2019t,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

The final straw was the policies imposed by the president, she says, going on to list: \u201cUndocumented people and U.S. citizens disappear without records or accountability, the legal system is saturated with malicious lawsuits, books are being banned, diversity, equality, and inclusion programs are being dismantled\u2026 Chaos and misinformation are how authoritarianism takes root.\u201d For her, \u201cpublic exhaustion\u201d is part of the strategy: \u201cCreate so much chaos that people stop reacting.\u201d<\/p>\n

She packed her bags in June and, with the advantage of fluent Spanish, is settling into her new home in M\u00e1laga, where she helps out with the Democrats Abroad organization. \u201cM\u00e1laga had everything I was looking for: deep roots, creative energy, access to nature, good healthcare, and a lower cost of living,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\"EnLeia Anderson in a courtesy image.Leia Anderson: \u201cWe want a safe place for our family\u201d<\/p>\n

Leia Anderson, 41, and her family are preparing to leave Kansas City, Missouri, where she runs a coffee shop, Second Best Coffee, which she will transfer to her employees. \u201cI\u2019m happy; I know it\u2019s in good hands and they\u2019re invested in the community.\u201d Leia, her partner, Nathan, and their two children (aged 10 and six) plan to settle in Barcelona in October, having spent a few weeks in the spring exploring the area. \u201cI fell in love with this city; it\u2019s very welcoming, and you can get around by public transportation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The family has hired an immigration lawyer to process a non-profit visa. The life they envision involves learning the language, exploring cafes and art, joining running communities, and \u201chelping the children acclimatize.\u201d To get an appointment at the consulate, they need to rent a home, although their goal is to buy. \u201cWe\u2019re going to Barcelona with the intention of making it permanent. We want a safe place for our family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leia is transgender and non-binary, so Trump\u2019s initial executive orders targeting the community set off alarm bells. \u201cIt seemed like we were making progress on LGBTQ+ rights,\u201d says Leia, who runs ultratrails and has fought for the acceptance of trans athletes in track and field events<\/a>. \u201cBut Trump came along and declared there were only two genders. His administration has made it clear that he doesn\u2019t want trans people to exist. The anti-trans rhetoric is so violent that I don\u2019t feel safe anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

The case of Kilmar Abrego Garc\u00eda<\/a>, deported to El Salvador, and the treatment of migrants in general left the couple in shock. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen people kidnapped off the streets and deported to countries they\u2019ve never seen.\u201d Leia notes that more and more people are fleeing. \u201cNot just abroad, but also to more progressive areas of the U.S.\u201d <\/p>\n

In Barcelona, her children \u201cwon\u2019t have to do any more shooter drills,\u201d and people, or so she thinks, won\u2019t notice her surgical scars. \u201cI\u2019m happy. I\u2019m going to stop worrying about people knowing I\u2019m trans.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MusaMusa Farah in Madrid, August 7.JAIME VILLANUEVAMusa Farah: \u201cIt\u2019s very hard to live with a president who\u2019s against you as a person\u201d<\/p>\n

At 25, Musa Farah has become an immigrant for the second time. His family traveled from Kenya to Lewiston, Maine, when he was 10. \u201cIt\u2019s hard being a Black student anywhere,\u201d he says, but since Trump returned to the White House, \u201ceverything went crazy.\u201d It was then that he began to consider living in another country: \u201cIt\u2019s very hard to live with a president who is against you as a person, your beliefs, your race, your class\u2026 There are so many things against you.\u201d<\/p>\n

The young American citizen decided six months ago to move to Madrid, where he has been for just over a week, to finish his marketing studies. He plans to stay for two or three years and return to his country when the economic and social situation improves.<\/p>\n

November 4, 2024, the day of the presidential election, was \u201cvery sad,\u201d he says, as his environment, which, with its ups and downs, \u201chad always been safe,\u201d was no longer so. His car had a bumper sticker for Democratic candidate Kamala Harris<\/a>. On November 5, he removed it: \u201cWe\u2019ve always been Democrats in my house, but we\u2019ve never been very involved.\u201d Seven months later, he is more open about his ideals. \u201cI\u2019ve gotten more involved in politics because all of this has directly affected me, and also the people I know and love.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now he\u2019s looking ahead to the midterm elections, which take place two years after the presidential elections, halfway through the legislative term. Farah\u2019s efforts will focus on getting people to vote for congresspeople who can \u201cshake things up.\u201d He believes that when Trump finally leaves office, Americans will ask themselves, \u201cWhat the hell was that?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RichardRichard and Susan Cope, in a courtesy image.Richard Cope: \u201cI\u2019m Jewish, I have a gay son, I know what can happen\u201d<\/p>\n

Richard Cope\u2019s final service to his country was working as an election supervisor to ensure his neighbors could vote freely in the 2024 presidential election. \u201cWho knows if that concept will even exist in two years,\u201d he says. The next day, he boarded a plane with his partner, Susan, to leave Rhode Island behind and move to Nerja, M\u00e1laga. Seeing how \u201cthe political climate was going dangerously in the wrong direction,\u201d they decided to sell their house and move to feel safer. \u201cWe\u2019re in Spain because of the MAGA-fication of the United States<\/a>,\u201d the couple, who are in their 60s, emphasize.<\/p>\n

The choice of the M\u00e1laga municipality was no coincidence. They discovered it in 2018 during a winter getaway, as they had seen many Europeans choosing it to spend the cold months. Also because the time difference with the American East Coast is six hours, which allowed Cope to continue working remotely as a medical data analyst (his wife is retired). They returned in the following years, and although they also tried Malta, Nerja seemed ideal for spending the winter. In 2024, three months had already passed. \u201cIt was the moment of Donald Trump\u2019s resurgence and the realization that no one had the courage to stand up to him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing Jewish and having a gay son, I know all too well what happens when a society creates marginalized groups. They go from being unwelcome to being hated and then attacked,\u201d Cope notes, recalling that both his grandparents and his wife\u2019s grandparents fled to the U.S. more than a century ago in search of safety and peace. The Copes traveled for themselves, but also for their children and \u201cfuture generations.\u201d Thanks to the properties they acquired in Nerja, they obtained one of the last Golden Visas before Pedro S\u00e1nchez\u2019s government revoked them.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt one point, we thought we\u2019d return to the U.S. every summer, maybe even buy a vacation home, but now maybe all our family will come to Spain every year, and we\u2019ll stay where the weather is warm, the people are friendly, and life is an adventure,\u201d Cope concludes.<\/p>\n

Sign up for our weekly newsletter<\/a> to get more English-language news coverage from EL PA\u00cdS USA Edition<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spain has become a refuge for Americans escaping Donald Trump\u2019s authoritarian drift. Families who, without looking back, have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":348947,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5311],"tags":[199,49508,557,32,68489,55772,56121,2175,11917,5479,123516,49,978,659],"class_list":{"0":"post-348946","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-barcelona","9":"tag-benito-mussolini","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-donald-trump","12":"tag-francisco-franco","13":"tag-george-floyd","14":"tag-haiti","15":"tag-kamala-harris","16":"tag-kansas","17":"tag-madrid","18":"tag-sevilla","19":"tag-united-states","20":"tag-us","21":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115038046641126727","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=348946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348946\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/348947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}