A lawyer representing Tamil migrants who landed on Canada's west coast in October says about 50 of them will soon be released. Narindar Kang says they'll be allowed to settle with family members already living in Canada.

Kang says immigration officials will work through the holidays to process many of the men, who will be released under stringent conditions.

They've been held in detention since the freighter Ocean Lady was seized off the B-C coast.

The migrants claim they were fleeing persecution after Sri Lanka's bloody 26-year civil war.

Kang says immigration officials have cleared 23 men for release and more than two dozen others will likely be freed next month.

The remaining men in detention are being held on the basis of information that hasn't been revealed to them or their lawyers.

There are concerns some of the migrants may have links to the Tamil Tigers, the military arm of the Tamil separatist movement. (CTVBC)