Ex-FBI chief James Comey says he will move to New Zealand if Trump wins in 2020
- He joins a long line of prominent Americans to float the idea of emigrating to New Zealand as a way to escape Trump’s chaotic presidency
- Immigration to New Zealand hit a record high in mid-2017 with many seeing the country as a refuge from the likes of Brexit
Comey was interviewed on C-Span and asked what he would do if Trump was returned to office. “From my new home in New Zealand, I still will believe in America,” Comey said, to laughter from the audience.
In 2016, the Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg told The New York Times “Now it’s time for us to move to New Zealand” if Trump was elected. One week after Trump’s inauguration, The New Yorker ran a piece that referred to New Zealand as a “favoured refuge in the event of a cataclysm” for the super-rich.
After the Trump election and Brexit referendum the Immigration New Zealand website experienced unprecedented traffic. Typically the site receives 3,000 registrations a month from British nationals interested in moving to, working or investing in New Zealand. On the day of the Brexit referendum the website received 998 registrations from Britons, compared with 109 at the same time the year before.
