It may seem like a drop in the bucket, especially when droves want to immigrate to America. Still, the newly published names of individuals who renounced their U.S. citizenship or terminated long-term U.S. residency is up, with 576 for the quarter and 1,577 so far this year. The growing trend is a sad one, with record numbers of Americans renouncing their U.S. citizenship.

For all the immigrant arrivals, the trickle the other direction is becoming more pronounced. The tally was 2,999 for all of 2013, a 221% increase over the 932 who left in 2012. The Treasury Department is required to publish a quarterly list, a kind of public outing putting Americans on notice of who relinquished their rights.

Friend of mine: “#firstworldproblems 3000 Americans renouncing their citizenship a year vs 3000 Ukrainians applying for a chance to apply for an American green card every 48 hours”