Juan Herrero Senés: "We're leaving the United States out of fear and because it's on its way to becoming a fascist state."

BarcelonaJuan Herrero had lived in the United States since 2007, and since 2009 he had been a professor at the University of Colorado Boulder in Denver. He held a permanent position and residency permit in the United States, as head of graduate studies in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. He even taught Catalan. But after almost two decades, in 2025, he and his wife, a US citizen born there, have decided to leave the country with their two young daughters and return to Catalonia. A radical decision that can be summed up in one name: Donald Trump.

Why did you decide to leave the United States?

— We've been talking about it for a while. There were things in the United States that made us think about it, like the regular training my daughter had to do at school to prepare for a shooting. Trump's first four years were already tough, but with a pandemic, you don't think about anything. Biden's years were fine. But from the moment Trump ran, and with the work he has done for four years since the assault on the Capitol, generating a model of submission, in which you are either totally faithful or you are an enemy... In November, we already started to think about it when we saw all this about the Project 25, an 800-page document prepared by a think tank ultraconservative, with the measures he's implementing now. We said, "Let's wait a year and see, maybe it won't be so horrible." But of course, since January 20th, with the 100 measures, the decrees of the very first week, you can see the central points of his government: they want to recover a "white, male, English-speaking America." So, in June, we left. We left out of fear and because we see that this is on the way to becoming a fascist state.

Fear?

— There was a moment when I was scared, but above all, I don't want my daughters to live there, because it will only get worse, especially for vulnerable groups: immigrants, women, non-binary people... In just a few months, it has managed to generate a feeling of helplessness and fear. There are people who don't go out. Or people who were open about their sexuality, for example, transgender people, and now they're starting to dress differently. It's starting to get suspicious that when you're speaking Spanish, people look at you strangely. My accent is very noticeable when I speak English, and even though you've never given it much importance, now you're starting to see things and you worry.

Did you, as an immigrant, also feel targeted?

— Yes, although from my privileged position relative to many people who are in a much more vulnerable situation. I had a green card, therefore, I was a permanent resident, a good position at university, a good salary... But the millions of immigrants who have gone in search of the American dream, and that's real, and who have risked their lives to start a new life in the United States, these are the people Trump is taking to concentration camps.Florida's Alcatraz, which the Trump administration calls Alligator Alcatraz, on social media, it's already known as Auschwitz-Alcatraz. They're concentration camps in disguise. It's a complete lack of protection; they're not allowed to make calls, and no one knows where they are because they're not accused of anything.

At the university where you work, how did Trump's arrival affect you?

— From the moment Trump took office, there were cuts to many of the research programs, climate change programs, and any diversity and equality programs. At my university, a monitoring committee was created to manage what the federal government was sending. And at the end of April, Trump announced that no more student visas would be issued. People who had been accepted were suddenly told there was no money to receive them. I received emails from people who had accepted a position and suddenly declined, and you can guess why. Or the fear that you might have tweeted comments about Palestine or Gaza, because the administration now has a lot of people dedicated to tracking down everything you've said on social media.

It sounds like a repressive regime.

— Yes, the United States is moving towards an authoritarian state. What happened in Washington the other day is a disguised martial law.But above all, it's the curtailment of personal freedoms, the nonexistent separation of powers because Trump is assuming all the power, and laws that directly violate fundamental principles. They've gone against abortion, against transgender people, now they're trying to repeal same-sex marriage, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth retweeted a video in which a pastor says women shouldn't have the right to vote. Now this is being talked about. It's a crusade against everything that isn't white, male, and American. And one of the ideas that affected me the most is eliminating birthright US citizenship. My daughter is 12 years old, was born in the United States, has US citizenship, and could lose it.

And is there resistance within the US or is there too much fear?

— I'm one of many people who have noticed this and are reporting it, both inside and outside the United States. Many people have made the same decision as me. Many American citizens have decided to leave the country. There are Facebook and WhatsApp groups of American expats helping each other, in Barcelona and elsewhere. There's also a movement within the United States to revolt against this, with protests, but it's not visible enough because for now, the focus is on helping in the areas where there are problems.