In a concerning development, discussions are reportedly underway within the Trump administration about the possibility of granting asylum to British Jews who are leaving the UK due to a surge in antisemitism. According to Robert Gerson, President Trump’s personal lawyer, he has held conversations with the US State Department about offering sanctuary to British Jews who no longer feel safe in their home country.
Gerson, a former British barrister who now resides in the US, has expressed his belief that the UK is “no longer a safe place for Jews.” He cites recent events, such as an Islamist attack on a synagogue in Manchester and widespread anti-Israel sentiment following the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, as contributing to his concerns about the safety of British Jews.
In an interview with the Telegraph, Gerson stated, “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 added that such a proposition is attractive because the Jewish community in the UK is “a highly educated community” that “speaks English natively” and “doesn’t have a high proportion of criminals.”
Gerson has raised this idea with Yehuda Kaploun, the Trump administration’s special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, in his role as a board member of the US Holocaust Memorial Council. This comes after the Trump administration previously appointed Gerson to the council, replacing members who had been appointed during the Biden presidency.
The concerns expressed by Gerson are not unfounded. A 2025 survey conducted by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research found that feelings of safety within the UK’s Jewish community have declined sharply in recent years. The survey revealed that 35% of British Jews felt unsafe in the country in 2025, compared to just 9% in 2023, before the Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent protests in the UK against the Israeli response.
Perceptions of antisemitism have also intensified, with 47% of British Jews seeing it as a “very big” problem, up from just 11% in 2012. This alarming trend has led Gerson and others within the Trump administration to consider offering British Jews the option of seeking refuge in the United States.
It remains to be seen how this potential policy shift would be implemented, particularly given the Trump administration’s previous announcement to restrict the number of refugees admitted to the US in 2026 to just 7,500, with a focus on white South Africans. The inclusion of British Jews in this quota, should the US grant them asylum, is a matter that will require further clarification.
As the situation in the UK continues to raise concerns about the safety and well-being of the Jewish community, the Trump administration’s discussions about offering asylum to British Jews have taken on a new sense of urgency, underscoring the growing challenges faced by minority groups in the face of rising intolerance and discrimination.
