US military lawyers to serve as temporary immigration judges

Sept 2 (Reuters) - Military and civilian lawyers working for the Defense Department will temporarily serve as immigration judges, officials said on Tuesday, the latest effort by President Donald Trump's administration to turn towards the military to carry out his domestic agenda.

Trump, a Republican, kicked off a wide-ranging immigration crackdown after taking office in January.

His administration has hailed its actions along the border, including the deployment of active duty troops, as the reason for a sharp decline in crossings by undocumented migrants. Trump made voters' concerns about immigration a cornerstone of his 2024 re-election bid.

"These DOD attorneys will augment existing resources to help further combat a backlog of cases by presiding over immigration hearings," Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement.

Military lawyers are not trained to serve as immigration judges. One U.S. official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told Reuters that even with some additional training, it would be a tough task for military lawyers to learn the process, which is different from the military justice system they are trained in.

This is not the first time the Trump administration has turned to military lawyers to shore up its domestic policy agenda.

Last month, Reuters reported that the Washington, D.C., U.S. Attorney's office was planning to bring in about 20 people from the Department of Defense to serve as special assistant U.S. attorneys to help prosecute the misdemeanor cases.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has moved to reshape the top ranks of the military justice system, replacing the judge advocates general for the Army, Navy and Air Force.

In his 2024 book, Hegseth was highly critical of military lawyers, saying most "spend more time prosecuting our troops than putting away bad guys."