Trump administration reportedly considered offering asylum to British Jews

Discussions are reportedly under way within Donald Trump’s administration about the US possibly granting asylum to Jewish people from the UK, the Telegraph reports, citing the president’s personal lawyer, Robert Garson. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Guardian.

Garson told the Telegraph he has held conversations with the US state department about offering refuge to British Jews who are leaving the UK, saying he felt the country was “no longer a safe place for Jews”. He pointed to an Islamist attack on a synagogue in Manchester and what he described as widespread antisemitism following the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023 as factors behind his view.

Garson, a former British barrister who practised in London before relocating to the US in 2008, said he raised the idea with Trump’s special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, Yehuda Kaploun, in his role as a board member of the US Holocaust Memorial Council. Trump appointed Garson to the council in May after dismissing board members who had been appointed during Joe Biden’s presidency.

A 2025 survey by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research found feelings of safety in the UK’s Jewish community had declined, with 35% saying they felt unsafe in Britain in 2025 compared with 9% in 2023, and 47% seeing antisemitism as a “very big” problem, up from 11% in 2012.

Key Topics

Politics, Donald Trump, Robert Garson, British Jews, Yehuda Kaploun, State Department