When River and Theo Berg packed their five children into a car and headed to the US-Canada border to seek asylum from Donald Trump's America, they thought they were fleeing for a better life.
But a year later, the couple are jobless, living off handouts and River's Veterans Affairs disability checks in a two-bedroom apartment with around $10,000 in debt hanging over their heads.
However, they claim they wouldn't have it any other way as they feel safer outside America, and they don't plan on coming back.
When the family of seven fled the US on March 3 last year, border agents scratched their heads as the couple informed them of the multitude of reasons they were seeking asylum in Canada, including for the safety of their gender fluid and transgender children, Wren, 13, and Milo, 14.
Agents allowed them to pass through without passports, warning them that Americans rarely ever made successful asylum claims.
If you had asked River, who now identifies as nonbinary, a few years ago if they'd be sleeping on used furniture in the living room of a two-bedroom apartment instead of their gorgeous three-bedroom Illinois home, they probably would have told you no.
But that's the reality for the mother, who is currently suffering their eighth miscarriage on top of it all, just a year into their asylum claim.
The family has settled in London, Ontario, and is now navigating a whole new governmental system, including Ontario Works, a welfare program for those living in the province.
'Does it help? Yes. Is it sustainable and livable? No, it's not,' the mother candidly said.
Currently, neither parent is working as River navigates their health problems. Theo found a part-time job as a paramedic, but that has since fallen through. He is now trying to pick up handyman jobs to help the family stay afloat.
The only income the couple currently has is River's VA disability checks and the welfare checks from Ontario Works.
Both River and Theo are military veterans and proudly served their country, which they said made their decision to leave the US even harder.
They went from paying $800 a month for a rent-to-own house that had three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a large backyard and a basement to paying $1,640 CAD (roughly $1,200 USD) for a two-bedroom that doesn't quite feel like home yet.
'I miss home,' River admitted. 'And not even just - there's no home in particular, but just the familiarity. I grew up in the US, it's what I grew up with.
'But at the same time, I would gladly do it again. I would go back a year and do the same thing, I would not change it.'
The family has found themselves accumulating around $10,000 worth of debt since their move, mainly due to people reporting the family after seeing River's TikTok videos about their journey.
They falsely claimed the parents were abusing their children, making loads of money off TikTok, and driving while intoxicated.
'It's totally false,' River told the Daily Mail.
Their social worker was able to quickly dismiss the claims. However, that didn't stop the temporary pause on benefits each time, forcing the family to pile their debt on credit cards to survive.
'I'm tired of people scaring me from telling my story,' River said. They have largely stopped posting on TikTok about their journey.
And despite receiving some welfare to help pay for groceries, the Berg family is not eligible to receive child benefits like others normally would through Ontario Works or refugee benefits.
In the US, they would have been eligible for SNAP or WIC, but they cannot in Canada, making the country's high-priced groceries an even bigger burden.
They have resorted to neighborhood apps, like Facebook groups and Nextdoor, to ask locals for help and to take any grocery items their neighbors may not need.
Their Easter dinner was funded by their kind-hearted neighbors, who brought them a ham and cupcakes.
'We didn't have anything,' the mother told the Daily Mail. 'We're very thankful.'
They've gone to food banks and churches for help. All the furniture in their home is used and was largely acquired through Facebook Marketplace.
It's a far cry from their life in the US, but none of that would change the parents' decision to leave America behind - they believe their life in Canada is still safer than living under Trump's 'corrupt' thumb.
River said the US political scene has 'gotten worse.'
During a previous interview in March 2025, River told the Daily Mail that those who are 'not white, not male,' will 'be a target,' adding that they believed the country was 'literally going to be Nazi Germany.'
They still stand by that statement, but believe things have deteriorated even further.
'I don't even think it's male and white [anymore]. I think it's more of the upper class and the government - the corrupt government,' they said.
'Would white males be more protected in the long run? Yes, but also, I feel like just because they're not coming for you now doesn’t mean they won’t come for you [later].'
The family has started a GoFundMe page and an Amazon Wishlist to help with their children and expenses as they await an IRB hearing to see if their petition for asylum is successful.
The Berg family's wait time has dropped considerably after Canada passed the Strong Borders Act (SBA) late last month.
At its peak, they were estimated to wait 60 months - five years - before going before the IRB. Now, it's under 12 months.
The SBA essentially bars Americans from making a claim at the border, and any non-American will be turned away until they can prove the US denied their claim there due to the Safe Third Country Act (STCA).
The law states that an asylum seeker must claim refuge in the first safe country they come upon. So a Mexican native traveling through land borders would have to claim in the US and be denied before being able to make a claim in Canada.
In tandem with the STCA, the Strong Borders Act essentially forbids asylum claims from people entering through the US-Canada border, as they will 'continue to be returned to the US,' the Canadian government said. It backdates to June 3.
The STCA doesn't affect Americans, as they already live in a country Canada designates as safe. However, it thwarts most of their asylum claims anywhere because of that.
'Canada's asylum system is not a shortcut to immigrate to Canada,' Jeffrey MacDonald, an Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) spokesperson, told the Daily Mail.
'Claim referral to the IRB doesn't guarantee that a person will be granted protection and allowed to stay in Canada long-term. Asylum claimants must prove that they have a well-founded fear of persecution or face a risk of serious harm in their home country or where they usually live.'
The IRB does, however, take into account 'well-founded fear of persecution based on race, religion, political opinion, nationality or membership in a particular social group,' as well as those who 'are at risk of torture, or cruel or unusual punishment,' MacDonald said.
An increasing number of American citizens are claiming asylum in Canada since Trump retook office. More than 1,800 did in 2025, the Daily Mail exclusively revealed.
The Berg family's case will be a landmark case if approved, as only four Americans have ever been granted refuge in Canada outside of war times. Three were minors, while the fourth was a gay activist who left the country before his claim was fully processed.
If their claim is denied, the Berg family does not know what they'll do, but they do know one thing for certain: 'We're not going to go back to the US.'
'Honestly, we knew the risk that [a denial] could happen, and we decided to go with the risk anyway, because it's better to try and to keep my kids safe than to not try and be stuck.'
The couple will find out six weeks beforehand when they are due to go before the IRB. In the meantime,the family is prepping their statements and collecting community statements from American and Canadian friends to vouch for their case.
In fact,they're so serious about keeping their children out of the US,the parents have made a backup plan they hope to never use:to turn their children over to child services in Canada if they are forced to return home.
'There's no way they're going back,'the mother said.