My Friends Are Fleeing to Canada to Escape Trump’s Administration

This is exactly the kind of regime my ancestors came here to avoid.

Credit: The Author

By William Aldrich

My ancestors chose America. My mother’s side of the family came via Canada and England. My father came to this country from Norway, when he married my mother after World War II. He witnessed the horrors of war-torn Europe firsthand as a navigator pressed into the German merchant marine. His best friend went to Bergen-Belsen, the concentration camp in northern Germany.

My dad saw the full scale of destruction in the lands surrounding the Baltic Sea as he delivered iron ore, under duress, to the German ports. He saw the horrors accompanying the Russian Red Army’s counter-invasion of East Prussia. A Russian plane bombed his hospital ship during Operation Hannibal, while the Germans fled the advancing Russian forces.

In exchange for all of that tragedy and terror, he got his life, a return to Norway, and three German courts-martial. He came here to become a citizen who believed in the promise that America would always be stable, prosperous, and free.

He impressed upon me that when ideologues take power and amass cult-like followings, war almost inevitably follows—with many unintended consequences. That is because war solves issues by eliminating them altogether.

Donald Trump and his administration are not only breaking that arrangement, but also dismantling the pillars of our democracy. Since Trump returned to office, his policies have gutted government funding for research, unleashed masked agents in the streets, and trampled Americans’ civil and human rights. My friends and I see the consequences of these actions all around us on a weekly basis.

DOGE cuts eliminated billions of dollars in scientific research funding. I have friends living in the Bay Area who were working on cutting-edge biotech projects, who suddenly saw their funding dry up. That’s left them with nowhere to turn, and no stability, making it impossible to plan their next move. These are people who should be contributing to our country’s national greatness, who are instead left scrambling and scared.

I know people who have chosen to make a new home for themselves in Canada, a nation that strives to protect people’s rights, their lives, and livelihoods. A good friend of mine, who was born and raised in the United States and was an alternate on a US Olympic team, is far along in the process of obtaining his Canadian citizenship. For his protection, I’m not sharing his name; that says more than enough about the sense of fear and panic that Trump’s administration has spread in our country.

Meanwhile, the Canadians have welcomed new American expats like these with open arms, saying Canada “has welcomed millions of immigrants from all corners of the globe” and “all Canadians are immigrants or the descendants of immigrants.” When Canada, not America, has become the international beacon of freedom, it’s clear we’ve turned a corner in our nation’s history.

The damage doesn’t stop there. We’ve seen Trump’s so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act slash SNAP funding by $187 billion, while showering billionaires and large corporations with tax cuts. These senseless and counterproductive policies bilk the hard-working people who Trump promised he would defend “from the corrupt political class that has spent decades sucking the life, wealth, and blood out of this country.” We citizens have allowed Trump and the corrupt oligarchs that surround him to act in their own best interests—not ours.

I’m an Eisenhower Republican. I was born in 1948. I know my history, and I know that this country used to be home to a different kind of Republican Party—one that made space for moderates and even liberals, but not for liars and conspiracy theorists. A platform of pragmatism and moderation delivered us the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower, one of history’s truly great men. His policies sustained mid-century prosperity and encouraged minorities to start demanding their equal piece of the American dream that so many people now cherish.

To get an idea of how far the Republican Party has drifted astray, here’s a passage from the Republican Party platform of 1956, the year Ike won his second term:

“In all those things which deal with people, be liberal, be human. In all those things which deal with people’s money, or their economy, or their form of government, be conservative … The individual is of supreme importance. The spirit of our people is the strength of our nation. America does not prosper unless all Americans prosper. Government must have a heart as well as a head. Courage in principle, cooperation in practice make freedom positive. To stay free, we must stay strong.”

Does that sound like Trump to you? Not me.

This administration’s blatant corruption, contempt for the rule of law, and wrecking-ball approach to funding essential governmental services is an ongoing, slow-motion tragedy. I no longer recognize the party that I’ve supported for so many years. I do, however, often receive racist and isolationist literature from MAGA groups promoting policies that caused my ancestors to flee Europe years ago.

If my father were alive today, I know he would share my horror at what’s happening here, and my resolve in speaking out against it. Because he knew what it looked like when the candle of freedom stopped flickering during World War II.

William Aldrich is a participant in Home of the Brave, which exists to show Americans the real-world consequences of this administration’s policies, and to highlight what bravery looks like in defense of American democracy.