From the Liveblog of
Monday, September 28, 2026
UK set to unfreeze refugee program, Palestinians and Afghans expected to make up quarter of applicants
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LIVERPOOL, England — UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood will announce today the reopening of a program for refugees to settle in Britain as part of a renewed focus on “safe and legal routes” for vulnerable people to reach the country.
The program will reopen immediately, and along with three new “community” refugee sponsorship routes previously announced, is initially expected to welcome hundreds of applicants, according to the interior ministry.
Mahmood will formally unveil its reestablishment in a speech later Monday at the ruling Labour Party’s annual conference, when she was set to say “fairness” would be integral to the government’s immigration agenda, the ministry says.
It comes amid pushback from some within center-left Labour over a series of hardline policies aimed at both tightening the rules for migrants arriving via legal routes and curbing asylum-seeker numbers coming by irregular means.
The planned changes include contentious proposals to make some legal migrants wait years longer than under current rules before they can apply to settle permanently in the UK.
Around a quarter of applicants to the reopened resettlement scheme are expected to be Afghan women and girls and Palestinians, according to the Home Office.
The Times of Israel Community.