Pete Hegseth approves that 600 military lawyers are temporary immigration judges

Washington (AP) – Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth Approved the sending up to 600 military lawyers to the Ministry of Justice to serve as temporary immigration judges, according to a note examined by the Associated Press.

The soldiers will begin to send groups of 150 lawyers – military and civilians – to the Ministry of Justice “as soon as possible”, and military services should have the first round of people identified next week, according to the memo of August 27.

The effort occurs as the Trump administration is Illegal immigration retraction by increasing the arrests and deportations. And the courts of immigration have already faced a backward arrears of around 3.5 million cases that has increased in recent years.

At the same time, more than 100 Immigration judges have been dismissed or left voluntarily After taking deferred resignations offered by the Trump administration, said their union. In the last series of layoffs, the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers declared in July that at least 17 immigration judges had been dismissed “without reason” before the courts across the country.

This left around 600 immigration judges show the union figures, which means that the Pentagon movement would double their ranks.

The Ministry of Justice, which oversees the immigration courts, asked for help from the Ministry of Defense, according to the memo sent by the Pentagon Executive Secretary to his DOJ counterpart. The duties of military lawyers as an immigration judges will not initially last more than 179 days but can be renewed, he said.

An MJ spokesperson has returned questions to the plan Department of Defensewhere the officials asked questions to the White House.

An official of the White House said on Tuesday that the administration was considering a variety of options to help resolve the significant background of immigration cases, in particular the hiring more immigration judges. The manager said that the question should be “a priority that everyone – including those waiting for arbitration – can rally”.

The memo stressed that additional lawyers are available and that reserve officers mobilized may be necessary. In addition, the document said that the DoJ would be responsible for ensuring that anyone sent from the Pentagon Do not violate the federal ban on the use of soldiers as national police, known as Could be accompanied by an act.

The administration faced a setback on its efforts to use the military in a unique way to fight against immigration and illegal crime “Voluntarily” violated the federal law by sending National Guard troops in Los Angeles in early June.

Affairs before the immigration court can take years to make their way to a final decision, judges and lawyers frequently providing for final hearings on the merits of a case over a year.

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The writers of the associated press Will Weissert, Rebecca Santana and Eric Tucker contributed to this report.