Trump Officials Ask Military Lawyers to Serve as Immigration Judges

The Trump administration is moving forward with a plan to use military lawyers as temporary immigration judges, sending a flurry of messages to uniformed attorneys this week seeking volunteers for the assignment.

The New York Times reported last week that the administration was considering a proposal to send about 600 military lawyers to work temporarily as immigration judges, as the White House pushes to increase the rate of deportations.

Several versions of emails sent to active-duty officers and reservists this week, obtained by The Times, showed that the military has started the search for volunteers to serve temporary duty assignments of 179 days presiding over immigration hearings, even as many details about how the assignments will work remain unclear.

“While a formal tasking is still pending, along with specific details regarding the duration and location of these assignments, we are seeking volunteers for this unique opportunity,” a message sent on Wednesday to active-duty Army lawyers said.

With the Trump administration seeking to carry out mass deportations, the backlog of immigration cases is a significant bottleneck. As of July, there were nearly 3.8 million pending immigration cases. Temporarily using military lawyers as additional immigration judges could increase the rate at which cases are processed.

Immigration courts are part of the executive branch, and their judges are employees of the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review. Last week, the Justice Department published a rule change relaxing criteria for who can serve as a temporary immigration judge.