Military lawyers from the Pentagon granted authority to temporarily act as immigration judges, potentially reaching a count of 600.
The Justice Department has requested the assistance of the Defense Department, with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth approving the deployment of up to 600 military lawyers to serve as temporary immigration judges. This move comes as the Trump administration intensifies its efforts to crack down on illegal immigration through increased arrests and deportations.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) is responsible for ensuring that the use of military attorneys as temporary immigration judges does not violate the Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits the use of the military for law enforcement purposes within the United States.
The Pentagon has stated that the step may require mobilizing reserve officers, and the military will begin sending groups of 150 attorneys to the Justice Department "as soon as practicable." However, it is not specified from where the 600 attorneys will be drawn, whether they will come from active duty or the reserves.
Former supervising judge Jennifer Peyton, who administered intensive training for judges in Chicago, has expressed concerns about the lack of administrative workers, including translators, in the proposed setup. She believes that Trump's move does not supply more administrative workers, which could potentially weaken the immigration courts.
Peyton also doubts that military attorneys could master the complexities of immigration law without the rigorous training process that civilian judges undergo. The head of the American Immigration Lawyers Association has decried bringing in temporary judges who lack expertise in immigration law.
The number of deployed military lawyers comes from the reserves, but the specific share and the exact selection location are not detailed in the available sources. They are intended to work as immigration judges in the USA, with their duties initially lasting no more than 179 days but potentially renewable.
The stakes for people coming before the new judges are life or death, according to Peyton. This move comes amidst a significant backlog of immigration cases, with more than 100 immigration judges having been fired or left voluntarily after taking deferred resignations offered by the Trump administration. The White House is looking at a variety of options to help resolve this backlog, including hiring additional immigration judges.
The administration's use of National Guard troops in Los Angeles in early June was found to have "willfully" violated federal law. The deployment of military lawyers as immigration judges raises questions about the constitutionality of the move and its potential impact on the immigration court system.
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