I lived in the US for decades and most people don't know that you can indeed actually just leave the US – if you have parents or grandparents who were immigrants from a handful of countries.
For example:
If your parent or any grandparent was born in Ireland you are already an Irish citizen. All you have to do is get their original Irish birth cert (you call the church in the town they were born to get this – there's immaculate records in these churches), fill out a Foreign Birth Registration with the Irish embassy or consulate in your area and then you can apply for an Irish passport with that. Once you have this passport you're free to live and work in any EU country.
Other countries that consider you a citizen of your grandparents were born there:
Austria
France
Malta
Belgium
Germany
Netherlands
Bulgaria
Greece
Poland
Croatia
Hungary
Portugal
Cyprus
Ireland
Romania
Czechia
Italy
Slovakia
Denmark
Latvia
Slovenia
Estonia
Lithuania
Spain
Finland
Luxembourg
Sweden
Some countries will allow it also if you have a trace of heritage. For example Hungary allows it if you can prove you have a drop of Magyar blood, but you have to be able to speak Hungarian to get it