Trump Administration Weighs Offering Asylum To UK Jews Amid Surge In Antisemitism

Discussions are taking place within President Donald Trump’s administration about potentially granting asylum to Jewish people from the United Kingdom, amid growing concern over rising antisemitism, according to a report in the Telegraph citing Trump’s personal lawyer.

Attorney Robert Garson told the newspaper that he has spoken with officials at the US State Department about offering refuge to British Jews who say they are leaving the UK because of increasing antisemitic threats.

Garson, 49, said he believes Britain is “no longer a safe place for Jews,” pointing to recent developments including an Islamist attack on a synagogue in Manchester and what he described as a sharp rise in antisemitism following the Hamas terrorists’ October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

In a US television interview in late 2023, Garson described protesters in New York and Los Angeles who opposed Israel’s actions as “marauding mobs,” accusing them of “masquerading as protesters” while chanting what he said were “antisemitic chants baying for Jewish blood.”

In his latest interview with the Telegraph, Garson said he sees “no future” for Jews in the UK and placed significant blame on British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, accusing him of allowing antisemitism to spread unchecked.

Garson, a former British barrister who practiced law in London before moving to the US in 2008, said: “The UK is no longer a safe place for Jews. I have spoken to the state department as to whether the president should be offering British Jews asylum in the US.”

He argued that such a move would be beneficial for the United States, describing British Jews as “a highly educated community.” He added: “It is a populous that speaks English natively, that is educated and doesn’t have a high proportion of criminals.”

Garson continued: “When I look at what is going on with Jews in Britain, and when I look at the changing demographics, I don’t believe – and I have discussed this with people in the Trump administration – that there is a future for Jews in the United Kingdom.

“For me, that is particularly sad.”

Garson said he raised the idea of the US serving as a refuge for British Jews with Trump’s special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun, while serving as a board member of the US Holocaust Memorial Council. Trump appointed Garson to the council in May after removing members who had been appointed during Joe Biden’s presidency.

Trump previously hired Garson to pursue a $50 million lawsuit against investigative journalist Bob Woodward, which was later dismissed.

A 2025 survey by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research found that feelings of safety among British Jews have declined sharply. According to the survey, 35% of Jews reported feeling unsafe in the UK in 2025, compared with 9% in 2023, before the Hamas terrorists’ attack and the subsequent protests in Britain over Israel’s war in Gaza.

The survey also found that perceptions of antisemitism have intensified, with 47% of British Jews calling it a “very big” problem, up from just 11% in 2012.

In October, the Trump administration announced plans to cap US refugee admissions for 2026 at 7,500, with most slots expected to be allocated to white South Africans. It remains unclear how British Jews would be included in that framework should the US decide to grant them asylum.