Trump Administration to Deploy Hundreds of Military Lawyers as Temporary Immigration Judges.

In a controversial move, the Trump administration has announced that hundreds of military and civilian lawyers from the Department of Defense (DOD) will temporarily serve as immigration judges. This decision, aimed at reducing the growing backlog in immigration courts, marks another significant step in the administration’s push to involve the military in domestic immigration enforcement. According to Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell, these DOD attorneys will "augment existing resources" by presiding over immigration hearings. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has approved deploying up to 600 military lawyers to the Department of Justice (DOJ), with the first group of 150 expected to begin their 179-day assignment “as soon as practicable.” However, the plan is drawing fierce criticism from legal experts and immigration advocates. Critics argue that military lawyers, many of whom lack training in immigration law, are ill-equipped to handle such complex cases. “This is like asking a cardiologist to perform a hip replacement,” said Ben Johnson, Executive Director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. “Expecting fair decisions from judges unfamiliar with the law is absurd. This reckless move guts due process and further undermines the integrity of our immigration court system.” A U.S. official told Reuters that even with additional training, it would be difficult for these lawyers to perform effectively as immigration judges. Adding to the controversy is Secretary Hegseth’s own history of skepticism toward military lawyers. In his 2024 book The War on Warriors, he wrote that many military attorneys “spend more time prosecuting our troops than putting away bad guys.” This initiative is part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to involve the military in domestic immigration enforcement. In recent years, U.S. troops have been deployed to the southern border, National Guard units have assisted with immigration raids in cities, detainees have been held at military bases, and military aircraft have been used for deportations. Earlier this week, a court ruled that the administration had “willfully” violated federal law by deploying National Guard troops to Los Angeles in June. As the immigration court backlog continues to grow — with hundreds of thousands of cases pending — the decision to install untrained military lawyers as judges is likely to intensify the already heated debate over immigration policy and due process in the United States.

NEWS