For trans people living in America, Donald Trump’s second presidency has been the dystopian nightmare that never ends. In the early hours of his second administration, POTUS doubled down on anti-trans rhetoric, signed an executive order to recognize only two sexes and singled out the transgender community in his inaugural address. Over the past several months, Yameena Ansari, a Toronto lawyer who specializes in complicated claims for LGBTQ people all over the world, has heard from a growing number of transgender Americans who want to know more about claiming asylum in Canada.

Ansari is currently representing Hannah Kreager, a 22-year-old trans woman from Arizona who has been living in Calgary since April. Last month, Kreager made an asylum claim with the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada based on the fear of persecution in her home country. The case could be a landmark judgement with far-reaching implications. Here, Ansari talks to Maclean’s about the legal strategy behind her client’s claim and why there is currently no state in America where it’s safe to be trans.

The Trump administration didn’t waste much time aggressively legislating against trans people. Did you start hearing from potential clients right away?

This was a hot topic among immigration lawyers even before Trump took office. He used a lot of anti-trans rhetoric during the campaign, but it wasn’t clear to us if this was just bluster to court a certain kind of voter. We got our answer pretty quickly when his inaugural address included comments about how there are “only two genders” in America, followed by various executive orders that banned trans girls and women from federally funded athletics, that required passports to reflect sex at birth rather than gender, and that banned trans individuals from serving in the military. This open hostility from the president prompted a lot of people to reach out about relocating to Canada.

What kinds of stories have you been hearing?

There is a lot of concern about access to gender-affirming health care. I’ve heard from trans people who believe that Trump has emboldened Americans to lash out against them and who now fear the general public. Even naturalized citizens—people who’ve legally become Americans—fear being deported. Despite holding U.S. passports, some worry that ICE could target them under the guise of “improper” documentation. A year ago........

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