In a striking twist to America’s immigration battles, the Pentagon is stepping into the courtroom. Defense Department attorneys—both military and civilian—are being drafted to serve as temporary immigration judges, part of the Trump administration’s effort to bulldoze through a swelling backlog of cases.
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell confirmed the move, describing it as an emergency measure to “augment existing resources” and keep immigration hearings from grinding further to a halt. The assignment, according to one U.S. official, is expected to run for 179 days and could involve hundreds of volunteer lawyers.
The catch? These military lawyers aren’t trained in immigration law. Their world is governed by the Uniform Code of Military Justice, not the labyrinth of statutes and precedents that guide civilian immigration courts. Even with extra training, officials admit, it will be an uphill climb.
Still, this isn’t the first time the administration has tapped military legal muscle for domestic missions. Just weeks ago, the Justice Department pulled in Defense Department staffers to help prosecute low-level cases in Washington, D.C. Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has been busy reshaping the military’s own justice hierarchy, replacing senior judge advocates across the services.
Hegseth himself has been openly skeptical of the military legal corps, once writing that too many lawyers spend more time “prosecuting our troops than putting away bad guys.” Now, those same lawyers will find themselves refereeing one of the most politically charged issues in America—immigration.
