You might not have heard yet about the “Donald Dash,” but you’ve definitely experienced the reason for it, and you’re probably experiencing the impact of it. You’re possibly considering it yourself right now.
People are leaving the U.S. by the hundreds of thousands — 180,000 just in 2025, with numbers expected to grow in 2026. Per the Wall Street Journal, more people moved out of the U.S. last year than moved in (total in-migration fell by more than 3 million people), which hasn’t been seen since the Great Depression.
And these aren’t especially rich, glamorous, or adventurous people — they’re regular people with regular lives, challenges, responsibilities, and life plans. They just want to live those lives somewhere else.
But, “the Donald Dash”? Why?
1. People love alliteration.
2. Although emigration from the U.S. has been on the rise for years (remote work, cost of living — people have their reasons), it’s spiked under the second Trump administration. Political events tend to trigger spikes in interest in moving abroad. The big change now is not just how many Americans are leaving but also who is leaving.
Expatsi’s own 2024 Expatsi Report showed that traffic to the Expatsi Test spiked by more than 40,000 respondents (more than 80%) in November of 2024. And three of the top four reasons for wanting to leave were “The U.S. is too conservative,” “The U.S. is too divided,” and “For more or different freedoms.”
And again, these aren’t exceptional people — they’re singles, couples, and families with monthly budgets in the $2,000-$6,000 range, not the five figures.
Regular people are also moving abroad
As Jen Barnett, founder of Expatsi who herself moved to Mexico in 2024, told the WSJ, “Previously, the Americans leaving were super-adventurous and well-credentialed. Now, they’re ordinary people like me.”
Expatsi and our experts and partners get to see the changes firsthand. Families with school-age children are researching international education systems. Professionals of all career stages are looking at remote work opportunities abroad. Small business owners are looking for ways to move with their business instead of abandoning it in the U.S.
Concerns center around things like healthcare access, affordability, public safety, and work-life balance. While some come to Expatsi with a favorite country already in mind, others come with those concerns and challenges and no country in mind, looking for a new home abroad that can accommodate their life and lifestyle needs.
So, is the “Donald Dash” a real thing?
The undeniable numbers of people leaving the U.S. are a real thing. Increased interest from normal, regular people is a real thing. And we can’t ignore the fact that the interest isn’t fading, and is actually growing, after that initial spike (although it could be argued that the U.S. is currently experiencing one long, ongoing political event).
But the “dash” isn’t so much a dash as a growing a marathon — few countries have immigration systems built for a quick, impulsive exit (although they do exist), and the move-planning process takes a lot longer for normal people who lack the easy resources of those rich and fancy expats.
But resources for regular, normal people do exist. Expatsi, just for example, has experts who specialize in concerns like visas and healthcare but also in very specific areas like moving with a disability or finding the right country for an LGBTQ+ or a neurodivergent emigrant. And we help prospective immigrants down a clear, step-by-step path, so what could be an intimidating process becomes a realistic possibility.
Americans are leaving the U.S. in record numbers — but they’re regular, normal people who are on a very considered and planned journey, not an impulsive dash. Moving abroad is a real possibility for normal people, and normal people are jumping on it.
