A Bermudian permanent resident of the United States has described a climate of anxiety for green card holders over reprisals by the country’s new administration against people from overseas airing left-wing political views.

Describing herself as “a legal immigrant and a single mother living in the Deep South” who has freely spoken out on social justice issues, she told of deep uncertainty in the wake of the Trump Administration’s highly publicised clampdown.

“I never thought I’d live to see this,” she told The Royal Gazette on condition of anonymity.

The issue came to the fore this month with the detainment by federal immigration authorities of a Palestinian activist and recent graduate of Columbia University, Mahmoud Khalil, over state department orders to revoke his green card in response to his political stance on Israel.

Another visa holder accused of defying US foreign policy, a Georgetown University fellow, was targeted for deportation last week.

The woman said she had opted to emigrate to the US from Bermuda not out of choice, but “because I had to”.

She added: “The truth is, I never wanted to leave my home country.

“If I had been able to afford a home in Bermuda, I would have stayed. But the cost of living made it impossible for me to give my children the life they deserve.”

She said she lived in a “progressive” city in a southern state classed as “deeply red” for its backing of Donald Trump and the Republican Party.

“I cannot vote, but that has never stopped me from being politically active,” she said.

The woman added that her advocacy began in Bermuda, where she was “vocal about racial justice and marriage equality issues — and it has continued in the US because I refuse to be silent in the face of injustice”.

She said she had attended local protests in support of Palestinians, LGBTQ+ rights and women’s reproductive rights while “remaining cautious of large-scale demonstrations due to the real risk of my green card being revoked”.

Her actions have included donations to “organisations that bail out protesters and those fighting for gun reform”.

She said she had called attention to Trump’s remarks at a pre-election rally last October on the death of Amber Thurman, whose passing in 2024 was linked to the state of Georgia’s abortion ban.

She also spoke out against Trump’s disparaging claims regarding Haitian immigrants.

Considering herself a political liberal, she said she had aligned with the Democratic party during the presidential campaign of Kamala Harris last year, including knocking on doors, handing out pamphlets, making phone calls, sharing information online and donating to the Harris campaign.

“I believed in democracy, in the right to speak freely, and in the idea that participation mattered — even if I couldn’t cast a ballot myself,” she said.

“But now, under the Trump-Vance-Musk administration, I am terrified.

“The recent disappearance of a green card holder, a legal immigrant, because he organised a protest for Palestine is proof that even permanent residency offers no protection.”

Mr Khalil, an Algerian citizen and green card holder, was arrested and held on March 8 by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.

Although charged with no crime, he was detained under provisions of the US Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 pertaining to persons attracting “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences”.

Mr Trump’s second presidential campaign came with a vow to cancel the visas of international students involved in pro-Palestinian protests, and he followed through on it this January, as President, with an executive order.

Other high-profile examples of the changing political climate in the US included a French scientist’s denial of entry to the country this month after immigration officials unearthed criticism of the Trump Administration on his phone.

Last Thursday, members of a British punk rock band, UK Subs, were barred entry. Their best guess was that the refusal was a result of their outspoken criticism of the President during concerts.

The Bermudian woman who spoke with the Gazette said she considered activism a matter of “making this country a better, safer place for my children”.

“As Black, LGBTQ+ young women, they face multiple layers of discrimination — and I want to ensure that the country they see as their home is a place where they can thrive,” she said.

“Freedom of speech should apply to all of us, yet Trump has openly called people like me ‘the enemy within’ and has even floated the idea of deporting US citizens.

“If they can come for citizens, what chance do green card holders have?

“I have built a life here over the past decade. I own a home. I work hard. My children depend on me. But what happens if Ice comes for me in the middle of the night? Who will know what to do?

“My family is in Bermuda. My children could be left confused and alone, unsure of where I am or how to help me. That thought is terrifying. If I were to leave the US, I would want to do it on my own terms, not be forcibly removed from the life I built. But the fear is real because it is happening to others, right now.”

She said she had emigrated to the US as “the next best option, a place where I could build stability, own a home, and create a future for my family”.

“And now, after nearly ten years of hard work and sacrifice, I have to live with the fear that it could all be taken from me.

“I never seriously considered US citizenship before. I love being Bermudian. I never saw myself as needing an American passport to feel secure. But now, it feels like the only way to protect my future here.

“And yet, applying feels like a risk in itself. What if, during the process, they see my political activism and decide to deny my application? What if they revoke my green card instead? What if Ice shows up at my door because I dared to oppose Trump?”

She added: “This is not paranoia. Green card holders, people who have committed no crimes, are being detained at airports, sent to Ice detention centres and treated as if they have no rights.

“Their only offence is being from a country Trump disapproves of, speaking out against him, or simply being an immigrant of colour. And many Americans, particularly White Americans, are comfortable with this, as long as it’s happening to people they already see as outsiders.”

She said she had begun to censor herself online for fear that “my words could be used against me”.

She called the atmosphere “suffocating”.

“Worse, my fear isn’t just for myself, it’s for my children,” she said.

“One is a US citizen, but the other is not. Could she be targeted because of her association with me? Could she face consequences simply for canvassing with me in support of Kamala?

“We never think that exercising our political rights will make us a target, until it does.”

She said she counted herself lucky to come from a politically stable country, in the event she should be sent home.

“Bermuda is not at war, overrun by gangs, or ravaged by sickness or political unrest,” she said.

“My loving family is there, waiting with open arms. That in itself is a privilege, and I don’t take it for granted. But that privilege doesn’t erase the fear of having the life I built ripped away from me.

“It doesn’t lessen the devastation of losing my home, my career and the security I worked so hard to create for my children. And it certainly doesn’t make it any easier to think about how much worse it must feel for other immigrants of colour who don’t have that safety net.”

She added: “This is the reality of being an immigrant, a Black immigrant, in America today.

“You live in constant fear. Fear of what you say, who you support, where you go, and whether the life you built will be ripped away from you in an instant. And that fear? It’s paralysing.”