The number of Americans claiming asylum in Canada has jumped dramatically, as voters who dislike Donald Trump and his policies flee north of the border.
In 2025, there were 1,850 asylum applications for Americans seeking to move to Canada – more than double the 700 in 2024, the year Trump won his second presidential election.
Immigration data, viewed by the Daily Mail, shows that US asylum claims are approaching figures not seen since Trump’s last term, with a record 2,535 applying for asylum in 2017, at the height of the anti-Trump ‘Resistance’ movement.
Prior to Trump taking office in 2017, the number of Americans seeking asylum in Canada was only a few hundred each year, but surged into the four figures after the election of the MAGA president.
The first full year of Democrat President Joe Biden‘s term in office – 2022 – saw 1,140 Americans seeking asylum in Canada.
Numbers then fell sharply, to between 300 and 700 a year for the remainder of Biden’s single term in office.
Ryan Rosenberg, a managing partner in Canadian firm Larlee Rosenberg, said he has seen a definite increase in immigration inquiries from Americans since Trump took the White House in 2016 and 2024.
‘We definitely saw a massive spike in business,’ Rosenberg told the Daily Mail. But this time, he said, the law firm saw inquiries from a ‘much wider range of Americans.’
More than 1,800 US citizens claimed asylum in Canada in 2025. There are more than 800 refugee claims that list the US as the persecuting country
In 2016, it was mainly racial minorities who were reaching out to the law firm for help. In 2024, that changed to include ‘a lot of families with children with complex gender identities,’ the lawyer said.
Trump has cracked down on transgender women competing against biological women in sports and on transgender hormone treatments and surgeries on underage children.
Both policies are popular with a majority of Americans but others – like banning transgender personnel from serving in the military – have proven more controversial.
‘It was really, really different this time,’ Rosenberg, who started Trumugees.ca after the Republican won the election, said.
In the past year alone, the company has seen spikes in interest every time the Trump Administration reacts boldly, including when ICE raids began and after the inauguration.
‘As the US acts on very Trumpian policies, we see Americans react,’ Rosenberg, who has solely worked in immigration law for the last 25 years, told the Daily Mail.
In addition to the surging asylum claims, there are 858 refugee claims, which have accused the United States of persecuting them. It is unclear how many of the 858 were made in 2025, as the numbers collectively go back to December 2012.
Asylum seekers are those requesting refuge and protections, while refugee status is the next stage, where the government has determined you are a person in need of protection.
At least 634 cases were referred to the Refugee Protection Division between January 1 and December 31, 2025. So far, only 27 have been rejected.
In September, the Canadian government had 280,000 asylum applications to sift through, with a goal of processing 80,000 claims per year. The applications come from worldwide.
The current backlog will take an estimated three years to clear, although as more and more people are applying, the time needed to clear it is only expected to lengthen.
When asked if some Americans may be making asylum claims in Canada with the goal of getting stuck in the backlog until the end of Trump’s term before returning home, Rosenberg said: ‘I’m sure it’s happening.’
River Berg, who previously spoke to the Daily Mail when she went by Katie, has only seen her family’s asylum claim move to the first stage, refugee claimant status, since they started the process a year ago.
Berg was told it could take up to 42 months in Ontario to go before the refugee board, she said in a TikTok video.
The Berg family, helmed by two veterans, rolled up to the US-Canada border on March 3, 2025, around 3.30am to claim asylum.
Even the border agents seemed confused by their request and told them Americans are rarely ever given refuge in the country.
Outside of wartime, only four American asylum claims have ever been successful, with three of them being minors. Another was a gay activist who left the country before his claim was fully processed.
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River Berg and her family claimed asylum in Canada in March 2025, they are still awaiting an answer on if it will be granted. They left Illinois for Canada to protect their transgender and gender-fluid children
Dan Livers crossed the Detroit River via kayak and illegally entered Canada before claiming asylum. He told police he feared he would be killed in the US
‘This is not a hissy fit,’ Berg told the Daily Mail in March 2025. ‘If you are not white, not male, you’re going to be a target.
‘It’s literally going to be Nazi Germany.’
Now, the family is living in Canada as they await their hearing. And a year later, Berg doesn’t regret the move, telling the Daily Mail this month: ‘I know I made the right decision.’
The Illinois family’s biggest concerns are their kids, especially their transgender and gender-fluid children, who are 14 and 13, respectively.
‘My son is talking about starting hormones and how much he hates having a female body,’ Berg told the Daily Mail this month. ‘But in the US, he wouldn’t even be able to think about it until 18, and even then, who knows what the laws will be.’
Twenty-seven states across the US have enacted laws that have limited youth access to transgender rights. The majority are located in the South and Great Plains, including Florida and Texas, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit.
Berg’s home state of Illinois has not enacted any policies that would limit children from accessing transgender-specific healthcare, although surrounding states have, which could hinder her claim.
Dan Livers, 51, paddled across the Detroit River and illegally entered Canada in early August.
The Michigander told Canadian authorities he was seeking asylum in the Great White North and feared he would be killed in the US, CBC reported.
‘I just don’t want to get killed, and I hate looking over my shoulder. I promise I’ll do everything I can to be a good Canadian and I will defend your border, I swear,’ the Army veteran told the outlet.
Canada granted Livers temporary status as his refugee claim is pending.
Ryan Rosenberg, an immigration lawyer, said his firm has seen an influx of Americans wishing to permanently move to Canada since Trump retook office, especially those with children with complex gender identities
Livers said he criticized a non-profit group in Michigan, which provides service dogs, and feared retribution.
He said he avoided going through an official point of entry, because he ‘remembered East Germany when I was a kid.’
‘Nobody came through Checkpoint Charlie, and I wasn’t gonna run the gauntlet of ICE, sheriff’s department, state police, whomever,’ he told CBC.
So he paid $25 for a kayak and navigated the river at nightfall, hitting shore near Ambassador Bridge.
Livers turned himself in to police at a Tim Hortons.
Americans will now face an even harder time making asylum claims after Canada passed the Strong Borders Act on Friday, which essentially bars US citizens from making a claim at the US-Canada border.
In tandem with the Safe Third Country Act (STCA) – which largely doesn’t affect Americans, outside of the country being deemed already safe – it also limited US citizens’ ability to now make claims in Canada.
The new law essentially forbids asylum claims from people entering through the US-Canada border, as they will ‘continue to be returned to the US,’ the Canadian government said. It backdates to June 3.
It is very rare an American to receive asylum in Canada outside of wartime. Americans can claim asylum at the border or any port of entry, such as the Peace Bridge in Buffalo
The law states that an asylum seeker must claim refuge in the first safe country they come upon. So a Mexican native would have to claim in the US and be denied before being able to make a claim in Canada.
The STCA doesn’t affect Americans, as they already live in a safe country. However, it thwarts most of their asylum claims anywhere because of that.
The STCA does allow exceptions, such as public interest in someone being charged with the death penalty in the US that would be admissible in Canada, having a work or student visa, or having a Canadian family member who can sponsor citizenship.
But it’s not just those who fear persecution in the US that are fleeing America. The US ranked 10th in countries of citizenships for new permanent residents in Canada in the first half of 2025, according to Immigration.ca.
In the first half of the year, 3,785 citizens became permanent residents. Throughout all of 2025, more than 7,500 Americans became permanent residents, immigration numbers showed.
But a lot of Americans are surprised they can’t just cross the border and make their neighbor their home, Rosenberg, who does not work with asylum seekers, told the Daily Mail.
‘There’s definitely a lot of American entitlement,’ he laughed. ‘There’s an expectation that they can just come and they can’t. We sort of see more of that behavior than anything else.’
For asylum seekers, they have to prove they are not safe anywhere in the US, which will effectively dismantle many of the 1,850 Americans’ claims.
For those seeking permanent or temporary status, they have to pass tests, get visas, and more.
Rosenberg told the Daily Mail he sees only up to five percent of inquiries move forward, with at least 95 percent of customers choosing to stay within the US.
‘We have immigration control in this country,’ he said. ‘Just wanting to be here and being an American passport holder doesn’t count for anything.’
