Military Lawyers to Temporarily Serve as Immigration Judges Amid Trump's Crackdown

In a move to manage the increasing backlog of immigration cases, military and civilian lawyers from the Defense Department will serve temporarily as immigration judges. This initiative, part of President Donald Trump's broader immigration strategy, involves deploying military resources to address domestic issues. The effort highlights challenges due to differing legal systems.

The Trump administration is once again employing military personnel in efforts to combat domestic issues, this time by assigning military and civilian lawyers from the Department of Defense to serve temporarily as immigration judges. This initiative comes as part of President Trump's wider immigration agenda aimed at reducing the backlog of cases.

Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell explained that these Department of Defense attorneys would augment existing resources to manage the backlog. President Trump has touted this approach, alongside deploying active duty troops, as pivotal in reducing undocumented migrant crossings.

However, this allocation of military resources raises concerns about the training required for military lawyers to adapt to the immigration judicial process, which is distinct from military justice systems. Despite these challenges, hundreds of lawyers are expected to volunteer for the initiative, slated for an initial term of 179 days.

(With inputs from agencies.)