Jane-Michelle Arc wanted out of President Donald Trump's America. In April 2025, the transgender software engineer left San Francisco, flew to the Netherlands, and asked for asylum after saying harassment and a frightening encounter with a driver had made life in the United States feel dangerous.
A transgender American who fled the US in a huff at President Trump’s reelection has been forced to return home to escape a notorious European asylum center — admitting that leaving was “the dumbest thing I’ve ever done.”
Software engineer Jane-Michelle Arc, 48, returned home to California after failing to win asylum in the Netherlands — and discovering life in the notorious Ter Apel refugee camp was far more terrifying than anything under Trump’s America.
Before returning, Arc gave numerous interviews decrying the conditions at the camp — specifically referring to anti-trans hostility from other asylum seekers, most from Syria, Eritrea, Somalia, Turkey, Algeria and Morocco.
“This is the dumbest thing I’ve ever done,” Arc previously admitted to the Guardian of the “Wildly stupid” decision to flee.
“I hear a lot of people saying: ‘You are an idiot. You came here from America.’ People will tell me: ‘Did you think about moving to California?’ And then I say: ‘Well, I lived in San Francisco’ and then they go: ‘Oh, that’s a heaven for gay people,'” Arc admitted.
I'll give Arc credit for having a brass pair; walking away from your country because you truly believe you're in danger takes nerve. The judgment behind that decision deserves considerably less applause. Arc left one of America's most socially liberal cities, convinced Europe would be safer.
The destination was Ter Apel, the Netherlands' main asylum registration center. Arc found something very different from safety. After months around the camp, Arc called leaving America "the dumbest thing I've ever done" and said conditions there left him afraid of being hurt or killed.
“This place is f–king dire,” Arc wrote in one post under the name Max Toegang, recalling in another being told to “be careful who I hang out with and where I go” following “sideways looks from Muslims.”
Arc returned to the US last month — but quickly went back to complaining.
“America is really, really loud and overwhelming. And everything is so expensive,” Arc wrote in a post shortly after returning to the US.
“The Dutch complain about groceries being expensive, but good grief, San Francisco is a whole different experience.”
In a separate post last month, Arc admitted how much more “comfortable” the US is, but still complained that the “transphobia is quite overt.”
Still, the trans exile admitted that before leaving
“I did it because I was afraid for my life. I didn’t do this in secret. I talked to everybody I knew. I said, ‘I am planning to do this wildly stupid thing,'” Arc previously told the Guardian.
“Everybody said, ‘I don’t love this for you, but there is no other option,'” Arc added.
By July, danger around Ter Apel had moved well beyond one asylum seeker's fears. Dutch authorities designated the area a safety-risk zone after stabbings and fights.
The area around the asylum registration center in Ter Apel will become a safety risk zone where preventive searches can be conducted, Dutch asylum and migration Minister Van den Brink announced in a letter to parliament.
On the center's grounds, a day shelter will also open so asylum seekers no longer have to wait on the grass. Extra cameras will be installed on and around the site, along with four additional security guards and two extra special enforcement officers, known as BOAs.
The measures aim to address growing safety concerns and unrest at the overcrowded facility. As a direct result, the Red Cross has decided to resume its work in Ter Apel, the organization reported.
Starting Wednesday, a nearby existing office building will be used for registering new asylum applicants. It will also house the day shelter, where strict rules will be enforced to prevent violence and nuisance.
Last week, the Red Cross and Vluchtelingenwerk stopped their work at Ter Apel after safety for aid workers was compromised by fights and stabbing incidents on the front grounds of the center.
Since May 20, the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) has operated with restricted access. Only clearly vulnerable asylum seekers, such as women and children, are allowed inside. Others must wait outside until a bed becomes available.
The new day shelter is intended to create a clear separation between regular asylum seekers and those causing nuisance. Minister Van den Brink held consultations on the situation with the COA, police, the Red Cross, and the municipality of Westerwolde, which includes Ter Apel.
Aid groups temporarily stopped work outside the center because they said they could no longer guarantee the safety of employees and volunteers.
Arc eventually returned to California without having been granted protection in the Netherlands. Home was still expensive, noisy, and, in Arc's view, openly hostile toward transgender people.
Arc also admitted America was more "comfortable."
Welcome home, Arc.
President Trump has changed federal transgender policy. His administration recognizes two sexes for federal purposes, the State Department issues passports using sex at birth, and military policy disqualifies many people diagnosed with gender dysphoria unless they receive a waiver.
Americans can argue over those policies, vote over them, challenge them in court, protest them, and call the president every name their vocabulary allows.
America ain't perfect, but it's still a country where a transgender software engineer can openly live in San Francisco, criticize the government, leave the country, return, and keep criticizing it.
Some Americans are rude; criminal threats and violence also happen, and people causing harm should be prosecuted.
Perspective has a way of clearing the fog. As of June, 65 UN member states criminalized consensual same-sex relations. Seven prescribed the death penalty in law, while five more faced legal uncertainty over whether death could be imposed.
How laws affect LGBTI people worldwide: key data and maps
- 65 UN member States criminalise consensual same-sex sexual acts
- In 2025, the total number grew for the first time in almost a decade
- The death penalty is the legally prescribed penalty for consensual same-sex sexual acts in 7 UN member States. In 5 more, there is no full legal certainty
- At least 63 UN member States have laws, rules, and regulations that limit freedom of expression related to sexual, gender, and bodily diversity
- At least 61 UN member States present legal barriers for organisations openly advocating the rights of LGBTI people to register and operate
- 17 UN member States have nationwide bans on ‘conversion therapies’
- Marriage equality is a reality in 37 UN member States and Taiwan
- 9 UN member States ban non-consensual and non-vital medical interventions on intersex youth
- 18 UN member States allow legal gender recognition based on self-determination at the national level.
Whatever Arc thinks of Trump, America doesn't make homosexuality a crime, and the government doesn't throw gays off roofs.
Arc's trip became a costly lesson in what political fear does to judgment. A person can become so convinced America is uniquely dangerous that the freedoms right in front of him become almost invisible.
The grass looked greener across the Atlantic. Arc crossed the ocean and discovered otherwise.
America can irritate you, offend you, disappoint you, and elect a president you despise.
Fortunately, you may still discover that this messy, loud country is a pretty good place to come home to.
Or never leave.
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