People who fled authoritarian regimes say Trump's tactics remind them of home
(NPR) Last year, David Koranyi attended his mother's 70th birthday party back home in Hungary, but the indirect route he took highlights the autocratic rule that grips his homeland. Instead of flying straight to Hungary, Koranyi flew to neighboring Austria and then turned off his phone and drove across the border where there was no passport control and he knew he could slip in undetected.
Koranyi runs an organization called Action for Democracy that has mobilized Hungarians overseas to vote back home, where political scientists say Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has tilted the electoral landscape toward his ruling party. The government says Koranyi threatens Hungary's sovereignty; pro-government media routinely call him an "enemy of the state."
"Friends and even embassies in Hungary ... told me that maybe it's better if I don't come back to Hungary anytime soon," says Koranyi, who was concerned Orbán's government might try to detain him.
Threats like this are one reason Koranyi came to America and became a citizen in 2022. So, he's been struck to see U.S. government agents stopping and aggressively questioning people — including citizens, tourists and green-card holders — returning to America.
https://www.npr.org/2025/05/01/nx-s1-5340754/trump-authoritarianism-u-s-hungary-turkey-orban-erdogan-duterte-maria-ressa