❓WHAT HAPPENED: The Trump administration is deploying military lawyers to assist with the backlog of immigration cases.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the White House.
📍WHEN & WHERE: A memo dated August 27 outlined plans to begin deploying 150 military lawyers to the DOJ “as soon as practicable.”
💬KEY QUOTE: Clearing the backlog “should be a priority that everyone—including those waiting for adjudication—can rally around,” said a White House official.
🎯IMPACT: The move aims to double the number of immigration judges and accelerate deportation processing.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has reportedly approved the assignment of 600 military lawyers to serve temporarily as immigration judges within the Department of Justice (DOJ). The immigration case backlog currently totals about 3.5 million, and the Trump administration is keen to clear it—while removing previous immigration judges with an ideological bias against deportations.
A memo obtained by the Associated Press, dated August 27, states that the Pentagon will initially deploy 150 lawyers to the DOJ “as soon as practicable,” with the first group expected to be chosen by next week. This initiative follows the dismissal or deferred resignations of some immigration judges earlier this year, leaving roughly 600 judges to manage the caseload.
The addition of military lawyers will effectively double the number of judges handling immigration cases. Beyond this, the Trump administration has deployed 1,700 National Guard troops across 19 states to aid in processing immigration cases and supporting federal immigration and law enforcement efforts.
A White House official emphasized that addressing the backlog should be a “priority that everyone—including those waiting for adjudication—can rally around.” Under the former Biden-Harris regime, illegal immigrants arriving in the U.S. en masse were being released into the country almost immediately, with little oversight beyond a requirement to appear before an immigration judge at some point years in the future.
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