Hungarian police removed a protester on April 14, who blocked the entrance to the parliamentary building in Budapest on April 14, as Hungarian lawmakers are expected to approve constitutional changes to further weaken the rights of certain groups as part of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's "Easter Cleanup" of his domestic opponents. Peter Kohalmi/AFP via Getty Images Closed subtitles
Last year, David Koranyi attended the 70th birthday party of his mother in Hungary, but the indirect route he took highlights the authoritarian rules of mastering his hometown. Instead of flying straight to Hungary, Koranyi flew to neighboring Austria and then closed the border without a passport control, knowing he could slip in.
Koranyi runs a group called Operation Democracy, which mobilizes Hungarians to vote overseas to return home. The government said Kolani threatened Hungary's sovereignty. Pro-government media often call him "the enemy of the country."
"Friends, even in the Hungarian embassy... told me that it might be better if I don't return to Hungary soon," Koranyi, who was worried about Orbán's government, said.
Threats like this are one of the reasons Koranyi came to the United States and became a citizen in 2022. People – including citizens, tourists and green card holders – return to the United States.
Amir Makled, a Michigan-based attorney, was detained by federal agents while returning to the United States for a family vacation. Image courtesy of Amir Makled Closed subtitles
Among them is Michigan attorney Amir Makled, who stopped at the Detroit Metro Airport when he returned from his family vacation in early April. Makled said agents asked for a search for the phone, and he believed his target was because he represented a pro-Palestinian protester at the University of Michigan.
"I never imagined this atmosphere of fear and random searches and surveying people's phone calls at border crossings ... it's something I would experience in my life in America," said Corlanie, who lives in New York.
Countless people left authoritarian countries in search of American commitment to freedom and security. NPR contacts Koranyi, More than a dozen others have had the impression of the Trump administration’s first few months in power. Most (but not all) say that some of the government's strategies remind them of the strategies they used by the regime they fled.
In fact, a February survey found that hundreds of American scholars believed that the United States was rapidly shifting from liberal democracy to some form of authoritarianism.
“Obviously, this is an elected government, but the behavior is an authoritarian government. " said Steven Levitzky, a Harvard government professor. How to die in a democratic country. “It is rapidly and systematically weaponizing government agencies and their deployments to punish competitors, protect allies and bully the elements of the media.”
Last fall, President Trump insisted that he would not be a dictator outside of inauguration day, when he said he would lock almost everyone in the southern border and the energy drilling for green light.
Trump promised to applause at Fox News City Hall during the campaign. ”
Some American immigrants from authoritarian countries say Trump has been saying it. Lily Tang Williams, a Republican who ran for Congress for the third time in New Hampshire, said it was not Trump, but former President Joe Biden, who reminded her most of the time when her authoritarian leader returned to her homeland in China.
"Who censored us in the Common Times (and put us in Facebook jail?" Don Williams said in an interview with NPR. "Not Trump. Trump himself was censored."
Tang Williams said she accused the Biden administration of putting pressure on Facebook and Twitter to combat certain posts, including a meme, and she said she posted information about mask authorization.
The Biden administration said it is encouraging responsible actions to protect public health.
If the Trump administration’s strategy has left immigrants like Koranyi unsolved, they will instill fear into others, such as Fulya Pinar, a professor at Middlebury College in Vermont.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (left) shakes hands with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, making a joint statement in 2023 after a joint statement at Carmelite Ronastery in Budapest, Hungary. DENES ERDOS/AP Closed subtitles
Pinar grew up in Türkiye and said she watched the country's authoritarian president attack scholar Recep Tayyip Erdogan and consolidated power over the news media. She said she moved to the United States to study for her PhD in 2016. And have intellectual freedom.
"It's about the survival of scholars, being able to continue thinking, teaching, writing without fear," Pinal recalls.
Since taking office, Trump has withheld or threatened to withhold billions of dollars in federal contracts and research grants from universities, including Harvard, who say they are not doing enough to fight anti-Semitism. In this atmosphere, Pinar is worried that some students might report to her. She teaches Middle Eastern anthropology this semester, unlike in the past.
For example, in her speech, Pinar once quoted death tolls such as the Gaza War. Now she guides students to read and they can find the answers themselves. This is a way to save yourself from prejudice.
“I want to be more careful,” said Pinar, who did not match. “At the end of the semester, students will usually provide feedback about the professor and then your promotion depends on that.”
According to the Middle East scholar’s barometer, Pinal’s concerns are representative, which tracks the opinions of scholars in the region. A February survey found that 57% of U.S. professors felt more stressed under the Trump administration’s self-censorship, a February survey found.
She had never seen such a period after Pinar left Türkiye's dictatorship.
"I feel very vulnerable because I feel like I can't work freely here," Pinar continued. "It feels like I'm stuck."
In addition to pursuing college, the Trump administration targets news organizations that approve the president. The FCC is investigating broadcast news networks, including ABC, CBS and NBC, saying they agree with Democrats. Trump also attacked the public broadcaster. In social media posts, he called NPR and PBS "radical left monsters" which hurt the country.
Maria Ressa and her online news record rapper announced her tax evasion case in January 2023 in the Tax Appeal Court in Quezon City, Metro Manila. Jam Sta Rosa/AFP via Getty Images Closed subtitles
Reporter Maria Ressa said that former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte adopted a similar strategy. In 2020, the Duterte administration refused to renew the license of the country's largest broadcaster and closed it.
Duterte left his office in 2022 and is currently awaiting trial of The Hague on allegedly guilty of crimes against humanity as thousands of extrajudicial killings were allegedly allowed to deal with drug deals against the country in his war. But Resa said the damage he caused to the news media.
"Even after the end of Duterte's reign, even after the end of Duterte's reign, there was no permission to be obtained," said Resa, who once runs the broadcaster. "What was damaged during this time, was destroyed, was destroyed."
Ressa won the Nobel Peace Prize for standing in Duterte's attack on her and her news website Rappler. At one point, she faced the possibility of more than a century of tax evasion and cyber-centric allegations that human rights groups say were politically motivated. Ressa spent this semester teaching at Columbia University. She is a dual citizen and here she sends a message to people.
“Americans respond very slowly, but I know the role of fear,” she said. “Don’t paralyze fear because you are at your strongest right now and you don’t take action and grasp your own boundaries of rights every day, you’ll get weaker and weaker.“