MAGA migrants? Moving to Canada no easy road, Americans find

When U.S. President Donald Trump's inauguration coincided with Martin Luther King Day in January, it felt particularly bitter for Jacquelin Lynott.

The therapist from Maryland is married to a transgender man, and the executive orders Trump signed on Day 1 of his second term felt like the death knell for the civil rights movement King had led. 

As Trump asserted "there are only two genders" and pledged to end diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, Lynott and her partner reached a conclusion: the United States was no longer safe for them.

"They all smell quite a bit like fascism," Lynott told CBC News of her reaction to Trump's orders.

Lynott has since been researching how to move to Ontario, joining what immigration lawyers describe as a wave of Americans interested in immigrating to Canada. But as many never-Trumpers are discovering, leaving Trump country is harder than talking about it. 

Back in 2016, plenty of Americans including such famous names as Amy Schumer, Lena Dunham, Snoop Dogg and Bryan Cranston vowed to flee north. Few followed through, however, in many cases because there are limited immigration pathways for Americans to move to Canada. 

"'What do you mean I can't move to Canada next week?'" is how immigration lawyer Ryan Rosenberg describes the surprised reaction of clients discovering Canada's immigration requirements. 

Rosenberg, managing partner of Larlee Rosenberg in Vancouver, launched the website trumpugees.ca last year. "Tired of Trump? Thinking about Canada? We can help," the landing page offers.

"We've been inundated with Americans looking to move to Canada," Rosenberg told CBC News. 

'Calling with their heart, not with their mind'

But fewer than five per cent of inquiries lead to an application to move to Canada, he estimates. Many Americans are surprised to learn they cannot simply move without a job offer, Rosenberg said. 

"It's often met with a lot of pushback and disappointment, frustration and comprehension from Americans who have what I would call a kind of a sense of entitlement about these things," he said. "They're calling with their heart, not with their mind."

Americans are looking to move to Canada at a time when the federal government is looking to limit immigration. So unless an applicant speaks French or has a specific skillset, their options are limited, according to Ottawa immigration lawyer Betsy Kane.

"There's certainly a lot of inquiries, not necessarily actionable plans to proceed with permanent residents," she told CBC News.

While British Columbia is looking to poach doctors and nurses from the U.S., other occupations are in less demand.

"For somebody living in the States who wants to look at opportunities in Canada, it's pretty difficult right now and you really need to have a job offer in a specific field," Kane said. 

'A massive red flag'

Lynott and her partner are not alone in feeling increasingly unsafe in the U.S. Americans from the 2SLGBTQ+ community are among those especially eager to leave.

"Looking to history and the times when things became particularly precarious for groups of people, the erasing of history of specific minority groups is always a massive red flag," she said, referring to Trump's removal of transgender references from the Stonewall National Monument website.

So far, however, 2SLGBTQ+ Americans have not met the bar for claiming asylum in Canada.

"Discrimination is not a basis for an asylum claim," said Ottawa immigration lawyer Julie Taub. 

While Taub has bad news for would-be asylum seekers from the 2SLGBTQ+ community, she has better news for another category of clients: Americans with Canadian heritage. 

For Americans who were born in Canada or have a Canadian parent or grandparent, establishing their Canadian citizenship is often a simple matter of paperwork. 

"This is a new phenomenon for me," Taub told CBC News. "They're well-established in the States and have excellent careers, but they just want to come here now because of what's happening." 

Trump's election has also caused more Americans to contact David Garson's Toronto-based law firm — but it hasn't halted his work advising dissatisfied Canadians looking to move south. 

"People are paying a lot for a little, their salaries are capped," he told CBC News. "And don't shoot the messenger on this but there's a lot of people who are fed up — in their words — with the 'DEI wokeness' of Canada." 

Garson, who is also licensed to practise in the U.S., said widespread malaise is causing clients to see greener grass on both sides of the border.

"I've been practising for many years," he said. "I've never seen times like these. I have never seen this much disarray."

For now, Lynott and her partner are seeking job offers in Ontario with a view to applying for an express entry lottery if no opportunities arise.

"But as of right now it is mostly a waiting game," she said.