Cooper’s family reunion crackdown may fuel small boat Channel crossings, British Red Cross warns
The British Red Cross, Yette Cooper’s new asylum pressure, women and children can provide more dangerous channel transitions as they leave the war zones, because war zones have tried to reunite with their loved ones in England.
On Monday, the Minister of Interior was suspended on the applications of the new refugee family reunification, a way to allow refugees living in the UK to apply to close family members to security.
The charity, which has experienced years of experience that supports the reunification of refugee families in the UK, warned that families will face a sharp choice between waiting for the conflict zones without their loved ones or starting a dangerous irregular journey to England.
Don’t write IndependentBritish Red Cross Refugee Services Director Alex Fraser said that the announcement of Mrs. Cooper has been separated from a parent for years and stuck in conflict or disaster regions ”.
Until June 2025, there was a visa of a record of 20,817 Refugee Family Meeting. In the last decade, 92 percent of them have been given to women and children.
“Families will encounter harsh elections for those years – either trying to survive for a long time for security or potentially risk alternatives – they are doing a dangerous journey to England to try to participate in their families again.”
Small boat transitions rose under labor, more than 29,000 people traveled from 21,052 people this year in 2024. Sir Keir Starmer, who was under great pressure on the problem, promised to destroy the transitions by fighting the smuggler gangs and accepting the agreement with France once.
Mr. Fraser also warned that the restrictions on the family meeting visa may reduce the ability of refugees to be integrated in accordance with their communities ”.
“We know that being with close family members is vital for people’s mental health and their ability to integrate into communities, or he writes. “Many people tell us that they cannot start living again until they know that their loved ones are safe.”
Fraser added that British Red Cross support was the children who hoped to reunite with their parents in England and that they helped 288 families last year.
During the conflict in Sudan, he gave an example of a 9 -month -old baby who left his parents and left the care of his old grandmother. The philanthropy was able to re -unite the parents with their sons for their second birthday.
Although the process says that the process is far from being easy, he presented protection, hope and a way for families to rebuild their lives together ”. However, he warned that any new plan will result in “more obstacles ..
“When families come together, we see that they are developing. It is very important to protect this life line for those who have shredded,” he wrote.
Mrs. Cooper, who made the announcement in Parliament on the first day when the deputies returned to Westminster after the summer Institute, said that new applications will be suspended until new rules are introduced and this will enter into force for the next spring.
These new requirements are expected to include a new waiting time, higher level of English language skills and financial requirements before an application is made. It is reported that refugees will have to wait for two years before applying for their families.
The exact requirements have not yet been specified, but home office officials have promised to “have a suitable English language skills to” effectively integrate local communities “in a policy document published earlier this year.
Plans will also ensure that the family unit has financially sufficient money to support any immigrants without relying on the taxpayer ”.
Cooper said that the newly given refugees have waited for one or two years after giving the protection they will apply to bring their families to England. However, a month after the refugee protection was given, the applications were made on average.
Ms. Cooper, in a statement to MPS, refugee families who can not support themselves for emergency housing assistance to local authorities, this affects the council’s homelessness accommodation unit.
Pursuant to previous rules, refugees do not need to meet any financial or accommodation requirements to apply, and their families do not need to perform any English language test. This is different from other ways of merger, such as British citizens who want to bring their partners to the UK and require the meeting of certain income thresholds.
Other charities and campaignists warned by the government that such a movement could push more asylum seekers towards small boat crossings.
International Recovery Committee England Director Flore Alexander said: “For people who want to come together with your loved ones, the contraction of access is not a solution to system prints – more people face the risk of directing people to dangerous journeys and a step away from compassion and common sense”.
“Family reunion is one of the best ways of a humanitarian and regular migration system, he added that it is“ deeply worried ”.
Sile Reynolds, President of the Freedom of Freedom of Loyalty, said, “Nobody should have had to wait for years to restart their lives, whether no one is due to delays in decision -making and objections or the ruthless and unnecessary suspension of the refugee family meeting.” He said.
