SAN DIEGO (AP) – The Trump administration taps attorneys for the National Guard and Army Reserve and then becomes a temporary immigration judge Dozens of fire Of the existing judges, the latest steps in a broader plan that experts warn, have warned, could hurt immigration courts and the military justice system.
Training for the first group of Army lawyers is expected to begin on Monday, with training for the second group expected to begin in the spring. About 100 Army Reserve lawyers are expected to participate, and will begin their nearly six months of missions shortly after training the 50 people, according to a September 3 email that was reviewed by the Associated Press.
The government wants to bring in just as many 600 military-trained lawyers To help make decisions about which immigrants can remain in the country. Advocates are wary of the move to use military lawyers to strengthen staffing Backlogged Immigration Court President Donald Trump’s administration will increase the arrests of immigrants.
These courts have awaited a long-standing hearing, with the number of pending cases reaching over 3.4 million over the past four years.
Both the Army and the National Guard said they hope they will fill the assignees with volunteers.
“This assignment provides an opportunity to gain judicial experience in a highly tempo and nationally important setting,” said an email sent to the Army’s reserve legal commander, adding that the location and other details will be made public later.
A notice seeking volunteers said it sent September 6th to members of active and reserve national soldiers. “The ideal candidate has experience in administrative law, immigration law, and military judge service,” or in related fields. Applicants said they should have sound judgment, fairness and a “role-appropriate temperament.”
The Trump administration is increasingly gaining support for the military Illegal immigration crackdown. It is included Army patrols the US-Mexico bordernationwide Security guards sent to US cities We are waiting for housing to support immigration enforcement efforts Military bases expelledand Use of military aircraft Perform deportation.
Concerns about lack of training
Immigration judges each manage hundreds or thousands of cases, and decide who will get asylum and green cards to stay in the US, shaping both the lives of immigrant families and the success of Trump crackdowns.
Some immigration and military law experts are concerned that reserves will be in the job without adequate training or experience. After more than 100 immigrant judges It was fired or left.
With only about 600 immigrant judges remaining, the Pentagon move doubles its rank. Trump’s Clean up new tax and expenditure laws It provided $170 billion in immigration enforcement, including the employment of 10,000 immigrants and customs enforcement employees, but limits the number of 800 permanent immigration judges.
“They are informing and finishing with a lot of experienced judges, but they claim there is a shortage, so they need to take over through these military JAG officers,” said retired Army Colonel and immigration lawyer Margaret Stock.
Of particular concern, she said the administration does not require administrative law judges or immigration law experience as it had been in the past. Stocks teaches immigration law seminars at West Point, but military lawyers said they can only learn at a minimum that can help fellow service members, such as visas for their spouses and children.
“Immigration laws are very technical and complicated,” she said. “It’s worse than tax laws, it’s constantly changing, and it has its own terms and its own rules that don’t make sense.”
Immigration judge comes from a The scope of legal backgroundincluding the military, the Department of Justice, immigration enforcement agencies and private practices. The government previously required applicants to have seven years of experience before undergoing a long-term employment process, followed by six weeks of training followed by two years of probation.
Until now, temporary judges have required 10 years of legal experience in immigration and have often been retired immigration judges, according to government rules that set out new plans.
The Department of Defense did not reply to an email seeking comment. The Immigration Examination Office, which runs the Immigration Court, declined to comment. The rules state that the agency has little experience in immigration law before many successful immigration judges have taken up their positions.
“The immigration law experience is not necessarily a strong predictor of success,” the rule said.
In the military, lawyers are known as the judge’s supporter general, or Jag. They studied at a certified law school and passed the bar exam before entering the military law program for more than two months. They sometimes work as special assistants to US lawyers and collect evidence to indict criminal cases, as does private prosecutors, said Mark Nebitt, a former Navy JAG at Emory University Law School.
“They are some of the greatest lawyers you will meet in the world of national security,” which includes “speed up pretty quickly in the complex legal organizations of law before adjuring the issues and claims as judges,” Nebitt said.
Matt Biggs, chairman of the Federal Employees Union, who represents immigration judges, said tapping attorneys with little or no immigration experience to hear of these complex, high-stakes cases is likely to do more harm than good.
“It will lead to more decision appealing. It will add even more backlogs. It will be an inefficient and expensive effort,” Biggs said. “We’re setting a dangerous precedent in this country when it comes to protecting due processes.”
Gregory Chen of the American Immigration Bar Association said the Justice Department “waters the qualifications of those who are given the authority to make decisions about life and death.”
He also worries that the administration will have too many shaking over temporary recruitment. A permanent judge is a civil servant with civil servant protection.
Democrats question the legality of the plan
Some democratic senators warn that the Pentagon plan could be breached Posse Comitatus Actbanning service members from carrying out their law enforcement duties and fearing that taking away Jags could harm the military justice system. They sent letters to the top military lawyers’ offices for four services, asking where around 600 lawyers came from and what legal analysis the military had conducted.
A Pentagon memo explaining the plan said the appointment should not take six months. The memo also said the Justice Department is responsible for ensuring that military lawyers do not violate the Comittatas Act of the Rally.
If military lawyers serve under fully civilian staff, Nebitt said it might be legal, but said it was unclear.
Some immigration advocates believe the administration is likely to deny the lawsuit to meet Trump’s deportation goals.
But Greg Linky, a former Army lawyer who is currently in private practice, said the assumptions are wrong.
“They don’t use rubber stamps because most of us served as defense attorneys,” he said. “We’re not all government hacking.”
Many of his friends, a jug of Army reserves, are signed up because they are interested in immigration law and want to meet the needs of the nation, he said.
“Also, it’s a way to put something else on your resume. You served as a judge.”
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Taxins reported from Santa Ana, California. Washington’s Konstantin Toropin also contributed.
