{"id":796047,"date":"2026-07-31T20:00:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T20:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/796047\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T20:00:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T20:00:14","slug":"dad-describes-the-moment-he-realized-he-couldnt-raise-his-daughter-in-the-united-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/796047\/","title":{"rendered":"Dad describes the moment he realized he couldn’t raise his daughter in the United States"},"content":{"rendered":"

Although it is difficult to tell if there is a trend of Americans moving out of the country, rough estimates show that around 8 million currently live in other countries<\/a>, double the 4.1 million living abroad in 1999.<\/p>\n

The most popular countries for Americans to move to are Mexico, Canada, and the United Kingdom, in that order.<\/p>\n

A big reason why some are leaving the U.S.<\/a> is that an increasing number of employers allow people to work abroad. Others are choosing to leave because of cost of living increases<\/a> and \u201cgolden visa\u201d programs. Golden visas offer the chance to get a foreign residency permit by purchasing a house or making a significant investment or donation.<\/p>\n

A couple is going viral on TikTok because they\u2019ve decided to leave America<\/a> and move to Spain. Luna Ashley Santel had wanted to move for a long time, but her husband wasn\u2019t on board with the change until he had a lightbulb moment while visiting a Spanish caf\u00e9. A big reason for their decision to leave is their daughter\u2019s safety.<\/p>\n

The moment that changed his mind<\/p>\n

While spending time in Spain, the couple went to a crowded caf\u00e9, which would have made them uncomfortable back home in St. Louis, Missouri.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a ton of people walking around. Being from St. Louis, that\u2019s not a very comfortable place for me to be in,\u201d the husband said. \u201cAnd you turn to me and say, \u2018Have you seen all these people?\u2019\u201d he recounted his wife saying.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd you\u2019re like, \u2018None of them have guns,\u2019\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

At this moment, he realized that living in America caused him to be on alert whenever he was out in public. A feeling he never got in Spain. \u201cAnd I realized this weight that I had been carrying around my whole life wasn\u2019t necessary. Like what we think is normal is not normal,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

When it comes to firearm policy, Spain and Missouri couldn\u2019t be more different. In Spain, owning a handgun for self-defense is allowed when you are in verifiable danger. In Missouri, there is no permit requirement to carry a firearm, whether it\u2019s concealed or carried openly.<\/p>\n

In Spain, the gun death rate per 100,000 people in 2019 was 0.64. Whereas, in Missouri, the chance of being killed by a gun is more than 36 times greater, with 23.2 people per every 100,000 dying by gun in 2021.<\/p>\n

Viewers felt exactly the same way<\/p>\n

The video resonated with many Americans who feel uncomfortable living in a country that has become accustomed to mass shootings.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s so much mental energy we dedicate to simply existing in the U.S.,\u201d Mintmage wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a father of two young boys, your husband\u2019s explanation has me shook because I cannot disagree,\u201d Astrolo-G added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is literally my main motivator for leaving the country. I am terrified for my son,\u201d Doula Faye wrote.<\/p>\n

Luna\u2019s husband isn\u2019t the only one in the family concerned about school safety in the U.S. Luna, a former teacher of 7 years, believes that sending her daughter to a school where they have \u201cterrifying\u201d intruder drills is unacceptable.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nothing that I want my 5-year-old child to have to accept or learn as normal,\u201d she says in another TikTok post.<\/p>\n

Mass shootings aren\u2019t the only reason why many Americans<\/a> want to leave the country. Other common reasons for becoming an expat include the cost of living<\/a>, politics<\/a>, and overall quality of life<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared three years ago. It has been updated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Although it is difficult to tell if there is a trend of Americans moving out of the country,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":796048,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,13011,154130,337887,231468,7922,337888,337889,337890,60194,3,148,61817,1153,21,19,22,20,25,24,16709],"class_list":["post-796047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-americans","tag-expat","tag-expat-life","tag-gun-safety","tag-gun-violence","tag-intruder-drills","tag-leaving-the-u-s","tag-lunagoestospain","tag-moving-abroad","tag-news","tag-parenting","tag-quality-of-life","tag-tiktok","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-viral-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=796047"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796047\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/796048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=796047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=796047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=796047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}