Jane-Michelle Arc, a 47-year-old Black, transgender woman from San Francisco. She has become part of a small cohort of American refugees applying for asylum in the Netherlands. Her journey started in April 2022, driven by a growing barrage of anti-trans state government measures that grew ever more extreme here in the United States. Following a death threat for crossing the wrong side of the street, Arc had an epiphanic moment that changed the course of their life forever. So she set out for Ter Apel, home to the Netherlands’ largest refugee camp.
In Arc’s case, as with many others in Ter Apel, she had applied for asylum before her arrival at Ter Apel. Her first response was met with an icy reception from staff at the emergency camp, who first mocked her inquiry. This callous response to refugees speaks more to our general ignorance about the experience of trans people escaping oppression.
Arc recounted her emotional experience at customs as she arrived in the Netherlands:
“I got to customs and I was just crying, and I said, ‘Who do I talk to about asylum?’” – Jane-Michelle Arc
The catalyst for Arc’s escape, though, was one traumatic experience in which a white woman in a pickup truck tried to run her off the road. Her experience came on the heels of a year marked by hate speech and attacks targeting her. Reflecting on this encounter, Arc stated:
“I’ve had people tell me they were going to kill me before… but that was the first time that I was faced with someone who said they were going to do it with the means to do in the moment that they felt it, and that’s kind of a life-changing experience when that happens.” – Jane-Michelle Arc
The dangers and violence that she faced reaffirmed the need for her exit from the USA. Arc’s story is an example of a growing trend. All around the world, transgender people are fleeing their countries to find acceptance and safety. For American refugees like Arc, the need to leave is borne from fear for their personal safety as anti-trans policies and rhetoric continue to escalate.
Helen Pidd, a presenter from The Guardian, along with producer Eli Block, traveled to Ter Apel to gain insight into why American citizens like Jane-Michelle Arc are seeking refuge abroad. Their research captures the catastrophic conditions that force people to abandon everything they know in order to find safety elsewhere.