Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has authorized the deployment of up to 600 military lawyers to the Justice Department to serve temporarily as immigration judges, according to an Aug. 27 memo obtained by the Associated Press.
The plan calls for sending groups of 150 attorneys, both military and civilian, with the first round to be identified by next week and deployed “as soon as practicable,” the memo said.
The move comes as the Trump administration increasingly relies on the military in its immigration crackdown, expanding arrests and deportations. The military’s role now includes patrolling the U.S.-Mexico border, deploying National Guard units to cities to assist immigration enforcement, housing people awaiting deportation on bases, and using military aircraft to carry out removals, the AP noted.
The administration’s immigration crackdown has further strained an already overburdened court system, where the backlog has swelled to about 3.5 million cases. An immigration lawyers’ group denounced the new directive as a “destructive” attempt to undermine the courts, according to the AP
More than 100 immigration judges have been fired or resigned under deferred resignations offered by the Trump administration, according to their union. In July, the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers said at least 17 judges were dismissed “without cause” in courts nationwide. That attrition has left about 600 judges — a number the Pentagon’s deployment would effectively double.
The Justice Department requested the additional help from the Defense Department, the memo said. Military lawyers would serve as immigration judges for up to 179 days, with the option for renewal, said the memo, per the AP.
A Justice Department spokesperson referred questions from the AP about the plan to the Defense Department, which in turn directed inquiries to the White House.
A White House official said Tuesday the administration is weighing several options to address the immigration court backlog, including hiring more judges. The official, who spoke on anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the plan publicly, told the AP the matter ought to be “a priority that everyone — including those waiting for adjudication — can rally around.”
The head of the American Immigration Lawyers Association criticized the plan to use temporary judges without immigration law expertise, likening it to “having a cardiologist do a hip replacement.”
“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,” Ben Johnson, the organization’s executive director, told the AP.
The memo noted the deployment of attorneys would depend on availability and could require mobilizing reserve officers. It also said the Justice Department must ensure the plan does not violate the Posse Comitatus Act, which bars the military from acting as domestic law enforcement, said the AP.
The administration’s broader use of troops in immigration enforcement has faced setbacks. On Tuesday, a court ruled the government “willfully” violated federal law by deploying National Guard units to Los Angeles in early June. The administration has pushed back on the ruling, noting that the troops were never used to enforce laws but rather to protect federal property from rioters.
It remains unclear how shifting as many as 600 military attorneys might affect the military justice system, the AP noted. Judge advocates serve a range of roles, from prosecutors and defense lawyers to legal advisers. Pentagon officials have not said whether the attorneys would be drawn from active duty or the reserves, the outlet added.
Until her abrupt dismissal in July, former supervising judge Jennifer Peyton oversaw the intensive training all new judges in Chicago receive before handling cases in some of the nation’s busiest immigration courts.
The program lasts several weeks, after which judges are paired with a mentor and serve a two-year probationary period, Peyton told the AP.
Peyton questioned whether military attorneys could grasp the complexities of immigration law without that preparation. She also raised concerns about how they would manage the heavy caseloads typical in Chicago, where a single judge may handle hundreds or even thousands of cases annually, the AP said.