Hundreds of Department of Defense military and civilian lawyers will temporarily serve as immigration judges to help address a backlog of cases. Pentagon officials said DOD attorneys will preside over immigration hearings to augment existing judicial resources. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth approved sending up to 600 military lawyers, with initial groups of 150 expected to serve for 179 days. Critics argue military lawyers lack training to serve as immigration judges and that additional training may be insufficient. Ben Johnson of the American Immigration Lawyers Association said the move undermines due process and likened it to assigning a cardiologist to perform a hip replacement. The deployment reflects increased military involvement in immigration enforcement efforts.
Hundreds of military and civilian lawyers working for the United States Department of Defense (DOD) will serve as immigration judges temporarily, officials have said, in the latest move by President Donald Trump's administration to involve the military in US domestic affairs. These DOD attorneys will augment existing resources to help further combat a backlog of cases by presiding over immigration hearings, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement on Tuesday.
Military lawyers are not trained to serve as immigration judges, and one US official told the Reuters news agency that even with additional training, it would be difficult for military lawyers to act as judges. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has approved sending up to 600 military lawyers to the Justice Department as part of the plan, according to a memo reviewed by The Associated Press news agency.
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