Americans have often moved between states for opportunities. Now they’re being forced to uproot themselves to escape hostile forces under TrumpThe GuardianBy Ed Pilkington24 Apr 2025America is on the move. Hundreds of thousands of people are packing up boxes, loading U-Hauls, and shipping out of state in an urgent flight towards safety.They’re being propelled by hostile political forces bearing down on them because of who they are, what they believe, or for their medical needs.All are displaced within their own country for reasons they did not choose. They are the new generation of America’s internal refugees – and their ranks are growing by the day.Here, we profile families who have joined America’s swelling class of internal refugees. They represent just five stories among many others which might have been included: librarians fleeing book bans, professors forced out by ideologically-motivated college education boards, and most recently, the thousands of federal employees fired by the Trump administration.
This isn't something new, it has been going on for a while... GLAAD wrote back in 2021,
In response to the state-level attacks on trans youth, business leaders, medical associations, sports associations, and leading women’s and LGBTQ advocacy groups have spoken out in opposition to anti-trans bills. In addition, public polling shows that the bills are overwhelmingly unpopular—even among Republican voters. When North Carolina passed the anti-trans ‘bathroom bill’ HB2, the worst anti-LGBTQ law in the nation when it passed in 2016, the state faced a projected $3.76 billion in economic losses, according to a 2017 Associated Press analysis. That economic threat is being echoed today, as corporate leaders and consumers alike express concern over discriminatory state laws that interfere with corporate diversity and inclusion policies and consumer interests. See below for detailed corporate statements and public polling.
And it is even getting more pronounced in the last couple of months and bans don't work in today's techno world.
A new study shows banning books in one state often increased demand for them in other states where they remained available.By: Scripps News GroupJul 24, 2024New research into book bans in the U.S. shows that when states ban books from circulation, demand for them increases in states where they are not banned.Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University sought to measure the effects book bans had on demand for the affected titles.They studied a data set of more than 17,000 titles, which included more than 1,500 banned books, as tracked by the American Library Association and PEN America.Banning a book resulted in a 12% increase in circulation where it wasn't banned.Banning a book in one state increased its circulation 11% in states with differing political leanings that had not banned the book.Banned books that had relatively high visibility on social media were read more frequently.
Okay, you want to read a banned book... go to an online library and down load an ebook! You want to have an abortion... go to a tele health doctor and order your meds from Canada or New Zealand!
Who wants to go to colleges that only teach half of classes... missing are the medical classes on abortion and trans healthcare!
AP NewsBy LAURA UNGARMay 9, 2024Fewer U.S. medical school graduates are applying to residency programs, but the drop is more striking in states that ban abortion compared with other states.Figures released Thursday by the Association of American Medical Colleges showed continuing declines after the group first spotted the difference in an analysis last year.“It looks even more pronounced. So now, I’m looking at a trend,” said Dr. Atul Grover, a co-author of the latest report.The number of applicants to these post-graduate training programs dropped slightly across the board from spring of 2023 to spring of 2024, with larger decreases seen in states with abortion bans. Those states saw a drop of 4.2% from the previous application cycle, compared with 0.6 % in states where abortion is legal.Similarly, states with abortion bans saw a 6.7% drop in OB-GYN applicants year over year, while states without abortion restrictions saw a 0.4% increase in OB-GYN applicants. The group only looked at graduates from U.S. medical schools, not those from osteopathic or international medical schools.
The patients wouldn't notice any changes at first but they are accumulative! As the shortages increase so will waiting time for appointments! The Los Angles Times reported that,
It wasn’t a stretch to predict that the strict abortion bans in states such as Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Arkansas would have demographic effects — driving residents out of those states and reducing migration from abortion-protective states.New research has validated that prediction and put meat on its bones. Most notably, economists at Georgia Tech reported in a paper published this month that by mid-2023, the 13 states with total bans had suffered a combined net loss of an estimated 36,000 residents per quarter, or more than 144,000 per year.Over two years, that amounts to a net loss of more than one-third of a percent of the combined population of about 80 million in the 13 states with abortion bans.
For me this is a worrying trend, political scientists call it “ideological self-sorting.” Over time, this makes red states more conservative and blue states more liberal. Back in 2021 Forbes wrote about this trend...
America is on the move like never before. Some would say at a tectonic level and for many the driver is as much political as it is economic. The top five states seeing a mass exodus are all Democrat-controlled. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, California, New York, New Jersey, Michigan and Illinois lost a combined 4 million residents between 2010 and 2019. Conversely, a recent study by U-Haul reported that the top five states to see the greatest influx of new residents include the Republican-led states of Florida, Texas, Tennessee, Ohio and Arizona.“With a focus on creating the best possible environments for businesses, workers and families to succeed, states led by Republican governors are seeing more and more people become residents,” said Republican Governors Association Deputy Communications Director Mike Demkiw. “People are desperate to escape the heavy handed, regulation ridden big government approach pushed by liberal governors.”
But the opposite is also true! They are fleeing states that are heavy handed in personal freedoms. They are fleeing to states that recognize "My body, my choice!"
I see this as a worrying trait... it will end up dividing the country even more between states with an authoritarian government and states with a liberal governments, but it is even more than a political divide... Blue have more environmental regulations, a more liberal educations systems, but it also goes to the quality of life. Liberal states have more libraries, more parks, and better healthcare, their quality of life is better!
This ideological sorting is going to only get worst over the years, it will all boil down to will the voters in conservative get fed up with all the social constraints and move to the left or will the divide lead to a new civil war this time between conservative states verses liberal states? Instead of going to war over slavery we will be going to war over abortion and trans rights!
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