The UK government announced a new task force to target “crooked” immigration lawyers on Tuesday.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman said lawyers who assist migrants with bogus asylum claims are common and “must be rooted out and brought to justice.” The Home Secretary’s comments came after reports emerged in the Daily Mail of solicitors telling an undercover journalist posing as an economic migrant to arrange a sham marriage to stay in the country.

The task force, called the Professional Enablers Task Force, will bring together “regulatory bodies, law enforcement and other government departments” to prosecute immigration lawyers who encourage or assist with false claims.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman said:

Crooked immigration lawyers must be rooted out and brought to justice. While the majority of lawyers act with integrity –  we know that some are lying to help illegal migrants game the system. It is not right or fair on those who play by the rules.

In response, The Law Society of England and Wales Deputy Vice President Richard Atkinson criticised the task force’s creation, saying:

The overwhelming majority of immigration lawyers continue to support the rule of law through their adherence to the law and professional standards set by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

The focus of the Home Office on a tiny minority of lawyers to which they are apparently applying considerable resources should not deflect from the fact that there remains significant backlogs in asylum claims or the unworkability of the Illegal Migration Act.

Under the Immigration Act 1971, Section 25, those that are found guilty of “assisting unlawful immigration to the UK” can face “a sentence of up to life imprisonment.”