By presiding on immigration hearings, these DOD attorneys will increase existing resources, according to Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell in a statement on Tuesday.
Military attorneys are not properly trained to act as immigration judges, according to a US official who told Reuters news agency.
Up to 600 military attorneys will be able to hire them as part of the plan, according to a memo that The Associated Press news agency reviewed.
According to the memo, the military will begin sending groups of 150 lawyers “as soon as practicable,” according to the memo, with the attorneys initially slated to serve as immigration judges for 179 days, according to Reuters.
The plan, according to the American Immigration Lawyers Association’s head, is comparable to having a “cardiologist perform a hip replacement.”
It is absurd to anticipate fair decisions from law-trained judges. According to Ben Johnson, the organization’s executive director, this careless action violates due process and further undermines the integrity of our immigration court system.
Defense Secretary Hegseth criticized military attorneys in his book The War on Warriors from the year 2024, claiming that most “spend more time prosecuting our troops than putting out bad guys.”
The Trump administration is turning to military support for its crackdown on illegal immigration, including the expansion of troops patrolling the US-Mexico border, the arrival of National Guard personnel in US cities, detaining prisoners at military installations prior to deportation, and using military aircraft to carry out deportations.
Source: Aljazeera
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