An American transgender woman – born male – has not been granted asylum in the Netherlands and is fighting the decision in court, reports the Parool.

Veronica Clifford Carlos, 28, is reportedly the first person fleeing America under president Trump to go to court to fight for Dutch asylum. The Dutch immigration authority IND, which designates the United States as a safe country of origin, said it believed she would be safe there.

The number of transgender Americans asking for asylum in the Netherlands has increased according to a report in NRC in July, with 33 requests in the first half of the year.

Clifford Carlos, whose case is being supported by LGBT Asylum Support, has been told that she can return safely to the United States and appeared in court in Amsterdam this week to appeal the decision.

In September 2024, foreign affairs minister Caspar Veldkamp said that while certain US rules affecting transgender people were “worrying”, they did not generally risk prosecution or serious harm, said the Parool.

Clifford Carlos told the paper that she had received death threats while walking down the street in America. “In hospitals I am treated with suspicion: they think I am just there to try to get drugs,” she reportedly said. “In Dutch asylum centres I have already been treated better.”

In July, the Dutch government launched a €50 million fund to attract top researchers who wanted to leave America. Americans who fulfil certain conditions around investment can take up residence under the Dutch American Friendship Treaty. Since July, a new pilot scheme has been in place to speed up the process.

Clifford Carlos said that this appeal could set a precedent for similar trans asylum cases. “If this doesn’t work, I am not only thinking about what I will face,” she reportedly said. “I am also thinking about what will happen to my friends.”