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Migrants allowed to be joined by more than 50 relatives, Home Office figures show

Migrants allowed to be joined by more than 50 relatives, Home Office figures show

Yahoo26-01-2025
More than 50 relatives of asylum seekers are joining them every day in Britain, according to reports.
Home Office figures, first cited by The Sun, show that the number of relatives coming to the UK has increased to 19,154 in the space of a single year.
The statistics relate to those who can settle here after family members' asylum claims are granted.
Immigration laws allow those who are granted asylum, including many refugees who cross the Channel in small boats, to make a claim to let relatives travel legally to the UK.
Refugees from Syria, Sudan, Eritrea, Iran and Afghanistan make up the bulk of the arrivals.
Alp Mehmet, chairman of Migration Watch UK, told the newspaper: 'There are huge cost implications at play here, all paid for by the public, who are seldom kept in the picture. And it doesn't end there.'
'Those granted asylum and joined by family members, will be housed if they have children under 18 who live with them.
'Add to this access to benefits, schooling, medical and dental care, and we can begin to grasp the frustration and anger felt by people waiting for social housing and in long NHS queues?'
The Home Office has been approached for comment.
A spokesman told The Sun: 'We have a long history of providing protection through various safe and legal routes for those in need.'
The Telegraph previously revealed how London is home to as many as 585,000 illegal migrants, equivalent to one in 12 of the city's population, according to a previously confidential report.
The new estimate has emerged in a study commissioned by Thames Water, obtained by this newspaper under freedom of information-style laws for the environment.
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The two leaders will not be flanked by their advisers when they come face-to-face for a highly-anticipated meeting at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson on Friday – a military base in Anchorage – to discuss ending the war in Ukraine. Tempering expectations of the leaders making a breakthrough, Karoline Leavitt, Mr Trump's secretary, insisted the summit was a 'listening exercise' for the US president. '...the goal of this meeting for the president is to walk away with a better understanding of how we can end this war,' Ms Leavitt told reporters on Tuesday. 'It is a listening exercise for the president. Look, only one party that's involved in this war is going to be present, and so this is for the president to go and to get, again, a more firm and better understanding of how we can hopefully bring this war to an end,' she added. Volodymyr Zelensky's exclusion from the talks has fuelled fears that Mr Trump and Putin will agree to terms to ending the war which are unfavourable for Ukraine. Reporting by Connor Stringer Read the full article here Mapped: Putin makes battlefield breakthrough in urgent push for land Russia is racing to seize as much Ukrainian territory as possible ahead of peace talks with Donald Trump on Friday. In what may prove to be a major breakthrough for Vladimir Putin, Russian sabotage and reconnaissance units punched through exposed defences in eastern Ukraine, slipping as far as six miles behind the front line in just 48 hours, according to battlefield reports. The location, near Dobropillya in Donetsk, is strategically significant. If Moscow's forces are able to establish a foothold, the breach could allow Russia to cut off the city of Kramatorsk, one of the most vital strongholds in the Donbas still under Kyiv's control. If the city falls, it would give Putin almost full control over the Donbas and strengthen his negotiating power when bargaining over Ukraine's fate with the Trump administration. Reporting by Kieran Kelly and Fermin Torrano Read the full article here Zelensky will be in Berlin on Wednesday, spokesman says Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky will be in Berlin on Wednesday to join European leaders for a video call with Donald Trump, his spokesman has said. 'The president is working in Berlin today,' the spokesman said, adding that a meeting with German chancellor Friedrich Merz is also planned. We reported earlier that chancellor Mr Merz will convene a call where European leaders are expected to implore the US president not to cede Ukrainian land in pursuit of a ceasefire (see post at 7:47 am). It comes ahead of Trump's planned summit with Russian president Vladimir Putin on Friday in Alaska. The German Chancellor's talks will also involve the leaders of Finland, France, Britain, Italy, Poland and the European Union, as well as Nato. Pictured: Scenes of devastation as Russia advances in Donetsk Zelensky and European leaders to speak to Trump ahead of Putin summit Europe and Ukraine's leaders will speak to US President Donald Trump at a virtual meeting on Wednesday ahead of his summit with Russia's Vladimir Putin in Alaska. Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany will convene a Ukraine-themed video call on Wednesday, where European leaders are expected to implore Mr Trump not to cede Ukrainian land in pursuit of a ceasefire. The call is set to include Mr Trump, Vice President JD Vance,Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and several of Mr Trump's favourite European leaders, like Prime Minister Giorgi Meloni of Italy. The US president says both Kyiv and Moscow will have to cede land to end the war. Russian troops have already occupied almost a fifth of Ukraine. What's happening in the Donetsk? Russia appears to be making an 11th-hour dash to snatch as much territory as possible ahead of the planned meeting between President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump on Friday. Russian forces are making a push towards Dobropillia, the Ukrainian battlefield monitoring group DeepState reported Tuesday. The town is around 20 kilometres north of the key strategic city of Pokrovsk, which has been in the Kremlin's crosshairs for more than a year. 'Groups of Russians have advanced about 10 kilometres in several places. All of them have no equipment, only weapons in their hands. Some have already been found, partially destroyed, partially captured,' Volodymyr Zelensky said in a briefing Tuesday. Hello and welcome to our live coverage We're bringing you the latest updates from the Ukraine war

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