And just to be clear; in the normal case a local government is much more of a threat than a foreign government. The experience in the 20th century made it very clear - if a government causes you to die, it was probably your government. Not a foreign government.

The experience in the 21st century has thankfully been a little bit milder but (1) we're only 20 years in and (2) if you are going to be persecuted it is still far more likely to be by a local government than a foreign government.