DOJ Loosens Requirements to Deploy ~600 Military JAG Officers as Immigration Judges

The Department of Justice loosened qualification requirements to allow ‘any lawyer’—including approximately 600 military Judge Advocate General (JAG) officers—to serve as immigration judges, bypassing the traditional judicial independence standards and specialized training required for immigration law. The proposed deployment of military lawyers as immigration judges represents institutional capture of the judicial system, replacing independent civilian judges with personnel under military chain of command who may face career consequences for decisions that displease political leadership. Immigration courts are already plagued by case backlogs and inadequate legal representation for migrants; introducing military lawyers unfamiliar with complex immigration law and potential asylum claims further degrades due process protections. The move effectively militarizes immigration adjudication, creating a parallel court system more likely to rubber-stamp deportation orders than conduct fair hearings. This erosion of judicial independence in immigration proceedings sets a dangerous precedent for using military personnel to bypass civilian legal protections when civilian judges prove insufficiently compliant.