Geneva, Switzerland - The UN reiterated Friday that seeking asylum is a "universally recognized" human right, in a pointed reference to President Donald Trump's decision to suspend all refugee admissions.

"All states are entitled to exercise their jurisdiction along their international borders (but) they need to do so in line with their human rights obligations," UN human rights office spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva when asked about the decisions.

"The right to seek asylum is a universally recognized human right."

Her comment came after Trump, on his first day back in office on Monday, declared a national emergency at the US southern border and vowed to deport "millions and millions" of migrants.

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The White House has also halted an asylum program for people fleeing authoritarian regimes in Central and South America, leaving thousands of people stranded on the Mexican side of the border.

In addition, Trump signed an executive order suspending all refugee admissions as of January 27.

That move also halted "all previously scheduled travel of refugees to the United States", according to a State Department email to groups working with new arrivals, seen by AFP.

"We urge all states to ensure humane and human rights-based border governance, including ensuring migrants' rights to individualized assessments of their particular circumstances and protection from collective expulsion... as well as from arbitrary arrest and detention," Shamdasani said.

She stressed that the UN rights office had "called for all states to expand the availability and accessibility of pathways for safe and regular migration, including regularization mechanisms in line with international human rights standards".

"International norms that were developed by the states themselves constitute the best base on which to build state responses to multiple and complex challenges related to migration," she said.