Exiled in Barcelona, fleeing from Trump: 'We did not feel safe living in United States'

The return from Donald J. Trump to the White House has forced many US nationals to flee from the United States due to their fears of attacks on minorities because of the ultraconservative path the country is taking.

"Neither of us nor my daughter felt safe living in the US during a second Trump administration," Chrys and Benjamin Gorman told Catalan News. They fled Oregon on the West Coast a few days before Inauguration Day on January 20, 2025. They have a non-binary child and are also part of the LGBTQ+ community.

Serg, a US national from Cuba, did not "immediately feel at risk" for being gay, but he also fled the States, because he wanted an escape path for his mother, who is a Cuban migrant, in case they tried to deport her.

He now lives in fear as "every time I go through an airport, I believe they will kidnap me and place me in solitary confinement in prison for 48 hours, because when laws are not respected, there are no laws," he said.

Serg, Chrys, Benjamin, and Frankie all moved to Barcelona.

The Gorman family decided to leave the United States after Trump won the election in November 2024. "We immediately had to sell everything we own, sell our home, our cars…" Benjamin Gorman explained during an interview with this media outlet.

"We flew over with four suitcases full of day-to-day personal items, and five animals: three dogs, and two cats," Chrys Gorman added.

They are sure that if they had not left the country by Inauguration Day, their child Frankie "would not have been able to leave." One of the first executive orders Donald Trump signed was to invalidate passports of people who are non-binary.

"Frankie and I are both queer. We are also both neurodivergent," Chrys tells Catalan News, and those are "groups that the Trump administration is openly hostile towards." Meanwhile, Spain has "been wonderful," and there was no problem obtaining a NIE.

To avoid any problems, they have decided to only travel within Spain. "It is not worth getting to a customs check somewhere and then having them say: 'You do not have a valid American passport. We are deporting you back to the United States.'"

When deciding on their next destination, the family was considering Mexico, Paraguay, Uruguay, Portugal, and Spain. As a writer, Benjamin chose the Catalan capital because it is a "very literary city," and because he spoke Spanish, which made everything "much easier."

Serg had long wanted to move to Spain because of family ties. He wanted a way out for his mother, a Cuban migrant residing in Miami. Serg says that attacks on trans people or banning books on the LGBTQ+ community at schools can lead to larger discrimination. "I did not feel at risk immediately, but we are well aware of the path these attacks end up taking," he told the Catalan News Agency (ACN).

Comparison with Catalonia

During the first year in Barcelona, Chrys and Benjamin have mostly been astonished by how freely they can express themselves. "Part of our motivation was to get to a place where we could continue to publish without fear of censorship, fear of reprisal and retaliation for the work we publish," Benjamin told Catalan News.

"We publish things that are very clearly anti-fascist," he added.

They celebrate being able to have a pride flag on their balcony without fear, without worrying that someone will walk by with a gun, "which is a nice change." 

"How walkable the city is, how pet friendly," Chrys said. She added, "Living in a country in which everything is designed for the people that live there instead of for five billionaires is strange."

"Although some areas in Catalonia are more conservative than Barcelona, I have not felt any animosity," Serg said. He is also happy to be in Barcelona, but acknowledges that it is "difficult" to see the "stress and fear" that friends and family members still in the United States have to go through. "My heart breaks," he said.

Back to the United States?

"If we have to go back to the United States, it will not be because the Trump administration came to an end and everything magically improved," Benjamin Gorman said.

"It will be because the company is not doing well enough, and we have to return because we cannot maintain ourselves," he added.

Although he continued by saying that "I would live here for the rest of my life. I love this city. I love Catalonia."

Serg is also a pessimist. He hopes that US nationals vote for a change in the mid-term elections. However, he believes that the US will not have "a fair election process until at least the next two generations." 

Benjamin has a similar message, as he said that "Trump is not the problem. He is a symptom of a much deeper cancer."

"What is in the culture that allows for this rise of fascism? If the country is not willing to deal with that, it's not a safe place for us to live," he concluded.