Discussions are reportedly under way within Donald Trump’s administration about the US possibly granting asylum to Jewish people from the UK, citing the US president’s personal lawyer.
Trump lawyer Robert Garson said that he has held conversations with the US State Department about offering refuge to British Jews who are leaving the UK due to rising antisemitism.
Garson, 49, said he felt the UK was “no longer a safe place for Jews.” He added that recent events—namely, 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—had led him to believe that British Jews should be given the option of sanctuary in the US.
Garson, a former British barrister who practiced in London before relocating 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 went on to say that such a proposition is attractive because “it is a highly educated community.” It was a populace “that speaks English natively, that is educated and doesn’t have a high proportion of criminals,” Garson added.
He 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 acting as a refuge for British Jews 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.
EJC President Dr Moshe Kantor said: “The ongoing discussions within the Trump administration to grant asylum in the United States to Jews from the UK, in response to the alarming rise of antisemitism, should be treated as a wake-up call, not dismissed. As antisemitism becomes increasingly normalised, Jewish life feels under threat, and many fear they can no longer live safely in their own countries. This is not just a UK problem; it is happening across Europe.
“Governments must act to restore hope and ensure that Jews can envision a secure future in their homelands. It is deeply tragic that, in a country which once offered refuge to Jews fleeing antisemitism, there are now discussions about British Jews themselves needing asylum,” he highlighted.
