Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has approved sending up to 600 military lawyers to the Justice Department to serve as temporary immigration judges, according to a memo reviewed by The Associated Press.
The military will begin sending groups of 150 attorneys — both military and civilians — to the Justice Department “as soon as practicable,” and the military services should have the first round of people identified by next week, according to the memo, dated Aug. 27.
The effort comes as the Trump administration cracks down on immigration across the country, ramping up arrests and deportations.
Immigration courts are already dealing with a massive backlog of roughly 3.5 million cases that has ballooned in recent years.
However, numerous immigration judges have been fired or left voluntarily after taking deferred resignations offered by the administration, according to their union. The International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers said in July that at least 17 immigration judges had been fired “without cause” in courts across the country.
That has left about 600 immigration judges, union figures show, meaning the Pentagon move will double their ranks.
The move is being done at the request of the Justice Department, and the memo noted that the details will initially last no more than 179 days but can be renewed. --->READ MORE HERE
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| Craig Hudson/Reuters |
Attorney General Pam Bondi may now approve jurists to help address the 3M+ case backlog
In an apparent effort to address the millions of backlogged immigration cases, the Justice Department made a rule change to allow attorneys without immigration law experience to act as temporary immigration judges.
The DOJ’s Office of Immigration Review published the rule in the federal register Thursday, which removes the requirement that temporary immigration judges have substantive prior experience in immigration law.
Jurists who are approved by Attorney General Pam Bondi may serve as immigration judges, which represents a tide change after more than 100 judges were fired or bought out by the Trump administration earlier in 2025.
The DOJ hopes that by expanding the net as to who may hear immigration-related cases, the more than three million case backlog may finally be assuaged.
The "department no longer believes the restriction of TIJs to current department employees with a threshold level of immigration law experience serves EOIR’s interests," the entry in the federal register read.
"Immigration law experience is not always a strong predictor of success as an (immigration judge) and EOIR has hired individuals from other federal agencies and Department components without prior immigration experience who have become successful and exemplary (immigration judges)," it went on. --->READ MORE HERE
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