 "President Donald Trump participates in a call with US service members from his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida on Thanksgiving Day on November 27, 2025 in Palm Beach, Florida. (AFP)")
As calls for tighter immigration controls sweep Washington after a deadly attack near the White House, United Nations agencies on Friday urged the US government to keep its asylum doors open, and ensure due process for those seeking refuge.
The UN plea comes after US President Donald Trump vowed to freeze migration from what he called “Third World” countries in response to the shooting. Investigators say the attack was carried out by an Afghan national who entered the United States in 2021.
Speaking at a press briefing in Geneva, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) spokesperson Jeremy Laurence stressed that asylum seekers are entitled to protections under international law. “They are entitled to protection under international law, and that should be given due process,” he said.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesperson Eujin Byun echoed the call, saying: “When people who need protection arrive in their territory, they have to have a due process of asylum. And then they have to have access to territory.” She also pointed out that “the overwhelming majority of refugees are law-abiding members of the host community.”
“We really want to appeal at this point to the states who are hosting refugees and asylum seekers,” Byun added.
The UN intervention marks a growing backlash to the administration’s announcement.
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View AllIn Washington, the shooting has become a flashpoint. Two members of the West Virginia National Guard were wounded in the ambush near the White House on Wednesday; one died, and the suspect, identified as the Afghan national, was arrested.
But the UN warns against conflating the crime of one individual with an entire category of vulnerable people. Instead, it calls for preserving international obligations toward asylum seekers, including access to territory, transparent processing, and protection under law. As Laurence put it, the principles of asylum must remain intact “even in times of crisis.”