Karina Ødegård, a Green Party member who is currently running to become the first out transgender member of the Norwegian parliament, believes her nation should offer asylum to transgender Americans.

“One thing is that you see the development of an illiberal democracy,” she told Aftenposten of the United States. “I think that is extremely problematic. Then it gets even worse because the [current] administration has singled out transgender people as scapegoats.”

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She compared the current situation to the treatment of LGBTQ+ people in 1930s Germany. “What would we have done in the 1930s if we knew what was about to happen? That’s where we are now. Then we must act,” she said.

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“When we see developments in the U.S., where rights are being withdrawn through pure legal and political persecution, I believe that this should provide grounds for asylum.” The Norwegian Green Party has also reportedly passed a resolution supporting this belief.

Ødegård is also worried the political broadsides on trans people could spread to Norway. Norwegians are already being affected by the United States’ continued crackdown on trans rights.

The Norwegian foreign ministry recently issued a travel warning for trans and nonbinary individuals seeking to enter the United States.

“When applying for an ESTA [Electronic System for Travel Authorization] or a visa to the United States, there are two gender designations to choose from: Male or female,” the warning explains. “The United States only recognizes the applicant’s gender at birth.” The ministry emphasized that “the Norwegian authorities cannot intervene” in the final decision on whether someone can enter the U.S. and advised that trans and nonbinary travelers contact the U.S. embassy before embarking.

Among the flurry of executive orders signed by the U.S. president on Inauguration Day was one that declared that the U.S. would only recognize “two sexes, male and female.” As part of the order, federal agencies are directed to use the term “sex” rather than “gender” and to only issue government documents, including passports, that reflect a person’s sex assigned at birth.

In late February, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a memo stating that trans travelers coming to the U.S. with gender markers differing from the gender they were assigned at birth can be permanently banned from entering the country under a 1952 law meant to stop fraudulent self-representations on immigration paperwork.

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