The ‘Ants’ Are Leaving: Why Ordinary Americans Are Suddenly Fleeing the U.S.

Americans are moving abroad, and relocation firms are cashing in.

BY MOSES JEANFRANCOIS, NEWS WRITER @MOSESJEANS

Illustration: Inc; Photo: Getty Images

“Americans are leaving, and it is not fringe. It is ordinary families,” says Jen Barnett.  

The co-founder of Expasti—a service that helps people with the expatriation process—told the Boston Globe that “[b]efore the election, it was the grasshoppers. It was people who just wanted a good time, to see the world, and to do whatever,” she says. “And since the election, it’s the ants. It is people who had boring jobs and saved up. They’re doing what they perceive to be the practical conservative thing to do, which is to get out.” 

In recent years, interest in leaving the U.S. has steadily increased, with many prospective movers citing political and broader governance concerns, including the Trump administration. Expatsi is just one of several companies that are capitalizing on this trend.  

Expatsi is moving millions 

Since Barnett and her husband co-founded the company in 2022, Expatsi has scaled service to work with nearly 100 partners around the world, helping people relocate and secure foreign citizenship. 

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On the company’s website, visitors can take a quiz designed to match them with top relocation options outside the United States. Since 2022, roughly 400,000 people have completed it. According to The Boston Globe, the business grew traffic by 19,600 percent in the 12 months following Trump’s second inauguration. 

“We want to move a million Americans. That’s our goal,” said Barnett, who relocated with her husband to Mexico in 2024. “The average American is worth a million dollars. If I move a million Americans, that’s a trillion dollars… that will go to countries that better align with the values of the people I’m moving.” 

In Spain, the number of Americans grew from roughly 40,000 in 2019 to about 60,000 in 2025, according to the Spanish Statistical Office. In Portugal, the American population rose from fewer than 5,000 in 2019 to more than 26,000 in 2025. And in Ireland, the Central Statistics Office reported that 9,600 people relocated to the Emerald Isle from the United States in 2024. Canada has also been a recent hot spot for Americans with new legislation that has made it easier for U.S. citizens to seek citizenship.  

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