Britain limits lone child refugees to 300

Britain's Conservative government has placed a limit on the number of lone child refugees it will accept into the country, citing fears that people traffickers were exploiting the system.

Some 350 children will be allowed in far fewer than the 3,000 originally expected under the law that had been aimed at helping some of the tens of thousands of migrant children across Europe. Some 200 children have been brought in thus far.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd on Thursday the decision was made after France raised concerns that UK government actions were acting as a draw to encourage children to make the perilous journey to the continent.

"We are not saying we are closing the door, we are putting up the drawbridge," she said. "We are not saying that." The move is controversial because Britain has taken in so few of the hundreds of thousands of refugees that have flowed into Europe in recent years, many fleeing the war in Syria.

Lawmakers in the House of Commons accused Rudd of trying to more closely align the country with President Donald Trump's ban on travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Syria, a move that has sparked protests in the US and abroad.