UK opens refugee sponsorship routes inspired by Canada

Britain's government announced it will open safe, legal routes for eligible refugees by allowing community groups, universities and employers to sponsor people to come to the U.K. The plan was directly inspired by Canada's "community sponsorship" program, which has settled some 400,000 people in the country since 1979.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said Friday the move will "open new legal routes for genuine refugees, while closing loopholes that have been too often abused." The new immigration law will also tighten the definition of family to immediate family members only and seek to prevent what the government calls "abuse" of human rights laws.

Critics have said the European Convention on Human Rights is often cited to prevent deportation of people with no right to stay. The announcement comes as Mahmood faces questions about her future once Prime Minister Keir Starmer leaves office. Starmer announced his plan to resign by September after two years marked by missteps that eroded his standing with party and public. Former Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham is widely expected to become Britain's next prime minister without a contest within the Labour Party.

Immigration has become a political flashpoint across Western countries coping with migrants fleeing war, poverty, climate change and political persecution. The U.K. debate has focused on migrants crossing the English Channel in smuggler boats and escalating tensions over housing tens of thousands of asylum seekers at public expense.