A Dutch court upheld on Monday the decision to deny asylum to US transgender woman Veronica Clifford-Carlos. It acknowledged the worsening conditions for transgender persons in the United States, but upheld that she was not facing systematic denial of protection or essential services.

Clifford-Carlos, 28, is reportedly the first person to have fled the Trump administration to fight for Dutch asylum in court. In September 2024, Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Caspar Veldkamp told Dutch newspaper Parool that, while certain US rules affecting transgender people were “worrying”, they did not generally risk prosecution or serious harm.

The court, however, sent the case back to the immigration authorities for review because of a procedural error that undermines the basis of the origin

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